Scientists at Queen's University Belfast have developed a new 3D-printed flow battery. This battery is important for storing renewablerenewable/rɪˈnjuːəbəl/L2可再生的（指能源来自源源不断的自然资源，如风能和太阳能）Renewable energy comes from sources that can be used again and again, like wind and sun. energy from wind and sun. For example, it uses iron instead of expensive vanadium. The researchersresearchers/rɪˈsɜːrtʃərz/L2研究人员（进行科学研究的人）Researchers are people who study something carefully to learn new facts. say their design is an important step towards the goal of reaching net zero.
Dr Hugh O'Connor began the project for his PhD. He discovered that normal flow batteries cost between £2,000 and £3,000, so he started 3D-printing his own version. After many small tweaks and a lot of trial and error, the design worked perfectly. Although he could have sold it, he decided to share the design for free with an IKEA-style manual. "We saw it as an opportunityopportunity/ˌɒpərˈtjuːnəti/L2机会；机遇An opportunity is a chance to do something that you want to do or that is good for you. to grow our network," he said.
This 3D-printed battery cell costs only £74 to make. It allows scientists around the world to run the same tests, which is very important for reliable research. Dr Josh Bailey is now leading these reproducibilityreproducibility/ˌriːprəˌdjuːsəˈbɪləti/L2可重复性（在科学中指实验结果可以再次得到相同结果的性质）Reproducibility means that if you do an experiment again, you get the same results. studies. He says this work can accelerate the development of flow batteries. In addition, the team is testing larger stacks to see how the technology can help the world reach net zero by 2050.
