Ocean Waves as Efficient Renewable Energy

UC's Thomas Beck explains that every time a wave breaks, droplets of water containing ions go up in the air, but how those ions arrange near the surface of the droplets can affect the chemistry of what happens in the atmosphere around them

By getting back to the basics, a University of Cincinnati quantum chemistry researcher looks at how water and other molecules align and influence ionic distribution on the surface where air and the liquid meet. These findings have received respect from top physicists around the globe and show promise for enhancing the efficiency of renewable energy devices.

As part of his National Science Foundation-funded research titled "Computational Studies of Specific Ion effects in Water and Ion Channels," Thomas Beck, professor of chemistry in UC's McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, leveraged the technical resources of the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) to improve methods for calculating the thermodynamics of ion hydration. In other words, to better understand the general concepts inside batteries and renewable energy storage systems—for energy generated from sources such as concentrated solar and photovoltaic solar—Beck found a much more efficient way to quantify the electrical voltage at the surface of water and other liquids like ethylene carbonate and propylene carbonate.

Beck has developed basic methods using quantum calculations to show that older, more traditional methods for gauging water's electrical surface charge often over-estimate the polarization state of ions, which is at the center of the electrical processes.

"Scientists have historically tried to simulate ions in water by developing force fields for use in molecular mechanics, but they associate those findings with experimental data that may or may not include the electrical potential at the water's surface," says Beck. "These models have often led to imprecise measurements and distorted values.

"By understanding what is actually happening at a molecular level on the liquid's surface, we can improve the general concepts for interfaces inside renewable energy devices."

Ultimately, Beck feels that progress is being made in wind and solar renewable energy but may not be fast enough for the crisis that is expected. Given the trajectory that energy is being used at present rates, he predicts that future energy demands may likely double in the next 50 years, in part because of the growth of developing countries

Ocean tide's role in energy

As an example of the powerful role hydration ions play in energy, Beck points to the atmosphere above an ocean. He explains that every time a wave breaks, droplets of water containing ions—molecules that have either a positive or negative charge—go up in the air, but how those ions arrange near the surface of the droplets can affect the chemistry of what happens in the atmosphere around them. Those ions can affect when light comes in and how it is absorbed or reflected, all of which can affect the atmospheric temperature. So hidden in this very general atmospheric chemistry can lie some of the most profound answers for energy.

Beck's enhanced methods for gauging the thermodynamics of ion hydration have garnered an overwhelming international respect from many of the world's foremost physicists who have invited him to speak at several prestigious quantum chemistry and physical society conferences around the globe, from Norway to Australia and now Switzerland.

This September, Beck has been invited to give the keynote address in Lausanne, Switzerland, to a cutting-edge experimental workshop group at the Surface Potentials - Facts, Findings and Fantasies workshop. And he will present on the surface potential of water titled, "The Role of the Water Surface Potential in Ion Specificity." This prestigious group includes two theoreticians and several of the top experimental scientists in the world, all of whom are trying to quantify or characterize this electrical-surface potential.

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Taxonomy

• Tidal Energy
• Renewable Energy
• Research