DETROIT – Every technology that runs our world requires energy on demand. Energy must be stored and made available in order to power electronic devices and illuminate buildings. The large variety of devices that require on-demand energy has resulted in the development of several energy storage strategies.
Many energy storage systems use a combination of chemical and electrical processes to change the form of energy. This process produces an interface, which is the point at which two different materials meet and transform. Scientists must regulate what happens at and around these interfaces in order to create more efficient, long-lasting energy storage systems. But it’s not easy.
Their technique is known as ion soft landing. The technology allows scientists to view how individual charged molecules, or ions, that exist at real energy storage interfaces interact with an electrode surface and an electric potential. It separates the chaotic interfaces that exist in real energy storage systems into distinct systems with only one kind of ion and the surface. The researchers may then investigate the role that each molecule plays in the formation of the interface.
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