EnerVenue, an American battery tech startup founded in 2020, develops nickel-hydrogen batteries for large-scale renewable and storage applications. Over decades, nickel-hydrogen batteries have proven to be simple, safe, and maintenance-free energy storage devices. They are also safer and less finicky than lithium-ion batteries in addition to being durable, efficient, and recyclable. The company's battery systems are expected to last about 30 years and 30,000 cycles with very little maintenance required.
Challenges: lithium battery
Today, more and more solar cells and wind turbines are being utilized to generate clean electricity. To store their electrical energy, rechargeable batteries have been deployed to increase the efficiency and reliability of these intermittent renewable energy technologies.
Lithium-ion batteries are a mature technology. They have been used to store energy on the grid that is integrated with intermittent solar and wind energy. However, the high cost and undesirable lifetime of lithium-ion batteries prevents their widespread use to store energy on the grid. Additionally, it is reported that several dozens of lithium-ion energy storage systems have resulted in explosions or fires.
Nickel(II) hydroxide-hydrogen rechargeable batteries show robust stability, and they have been applied extensively in satellites and aircraft with service life of more than three decades.
However, the use of expensive platinum (Pt) catalysts in the nickel(II) hydroxide-hydrogen battery impedes its widespread applications. It is necessary to explore advanced nickel(II) hydroxide-hydrogen batteries or other metal compound-hydrogen batteries to achieve the United States Department of Energy (DOE) target of $100 kWh⁻¹ for grid storage, which is highly desirable yet very challenging.
EnerVenue Technology
EnerVenue develops low-cost bi-functional catalysts for nickel(II) hydroxide-hydrogen batteries that exhibit performance comparable to the battery based on the costly platinum catalyst. Additionally, EnerVenue develops a variety of cathode materials for high-performance metal compound-hydrogen batteries. Their batteries cost less than $100 kWh⁻¹.
EnerVenue nickel hydrogen batteries
Nickel hydrogen battery structure
The nickel(II) hydroxide-hydrogen battery is depicted in the figure below.