New Molecule Stores Solar Energy for Months Without Loss

Imagine capturing sunshine from July and using it to heat your home in the dead of winter. That dream just got a lot closer to reality.

Researchers at the University of Montreal and Concordia University have created a remarkable organic molecule called AzoBiPy that can hold an electrical charge for months without losing power. In lab tests running 70 days straight, the molecule retained 99% of its energy capacity.

This matters because solar panels and wind turbines have one huge weakness: they only generate power when the sun shines or wind blows. Storing that energy long enough to use later has been the missing puzzle piece preventing renewable energy from fully replacing fossil fuels.

The team tested their new molecule in a special device called a redox flow battery. Unlike the lithium batteries in your phone, flow batteries store energy in large tanks of liquid containing dissolved organic molecules. The bigger the tanks, the more energy you can store.

AzoBiPy brings three game-changing advantages to the table. First, it stores twice as much energy as similar molecules because it can exchange two electrons instead of one. Second, it dissolves easily in water, making it perfect for large-scale systems. Third, and most impressive, it barely degrades over time.

The molecule contains only carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. No rare metals required. The researchers are now exploring ways to make it from wood waste and food scraps, which would make the entire system renewable from start to finish.

At their department holiday party last December, the team powered Christmas tree lights for eight hours using just two tablespoons of their solution in each tank. The demonstration showed another crucial benefit: the water-based system can't catch fire like lithium batteries sometimes do.

Professor Hélène Lebel, who led the molecular design work, emphasized that stability was the toughest challenge. Most organic molecules break down too quickly to be practical. After 192 complete charge and discharge cycles, AzoBiPy lost just 0.02% of its capacity per day.

The Ripple Effect

This breakthrough could transform how we power our world. Solar and wind farms could store excess electricity generated during peak production times and feed it back to the grid during high demand periods. Entire communities could become energy independent, relying on locally generated and stored renewable power.

The technology is especially promising for large facilities that need reliable backup power without the fire risks of conventional batteries. As extreme weather makes power grids more vulnerable, safe long-term storage becomes increasingly critical.

The next step is scaling up from laboratory demonstrations to commercial systems. Flow batteries using similar technology are already on the market, but they rely on vanadium, a non-renewable metal. Replacing it with organic molecules like AzoBiPy could make renewable energy storage truly sustainable.

The future where we capture summer sunshine to warm winter homes may arrive sooner than we think.