Oregon Public Broadcasting

Researchers at Washington State University have found a new way to store energy, and provide a potential defense against a biological attack. Rob Manning explains.

Storing energy by turning a gas into a solid isn’t a new idea. WSU Professor Choong-Suk Yoo has found success using xenon diflouride.

In addition to creating a potential battery, Yoo says he’s also created what could be a germ-fighting “super-oxidizing” compound.

Choong-Suk Yoo: “Flourine is the element which is the strongest oxidizer of all elements available. It has been one of the dreams to making a metallic, or polymeric form of the fluorine itself.” 

Yoo says if perfected, the fluorine could be deployed in the event of a biological or chemical attack.

He’s still working on how to solidify xenon diflouride with the least amount of energy, and on how to keep it a solid.

Yoo’s research was just published on-line, in the journal Nature Chemistry.

It was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Defense Department.