California, in its rapid transition to renewable fuels, faces the challenge of storing excess power due to the intermittent nature of solar and wind sources. To address this issue, a team at Stanford led by Robert Waymouth is exploring liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) as a solution for energy storage. The research, detailed in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, aims to convert and store electrical energy in liquid fuels like isopropanol, offering a new approach to energy storage for the electric grid. While lithium-ion batteries have been dominant in energy storage, the scalability and efficiency of storing large amounts of energy require alternative technologies. LOHCs have emerged as a promising candidate, capable of storing and releasing hydrogen using catalysts and elevated temperatures. The team's focus on isopropanol and acetone as key ingredients in the energy storage system could pave the way for using LOHCs as 'liquid batteries' to efficiently store and retrieve energy when needed. One of the key innovations in the research is the development of a catalyst system that can selectively generate isopropanol from protons and electrons without producing hydrogen gas, offering a more efficient energy storage process. By utilizing cobaltocene as a co-catalyst along with iridium, the team achieved a breakthrough in directly delivering protons and electrons to the catalyst, avoiding the production of hydrogen gas as previously expected. Looking ahead, the team is exploring the potential of other catalysts, like iron, to enhance the affordability and scalability of LOHC systems. The ultimate goal is to improve energy storage in various sectors and make renewable energy utilization more efficient. The elegant simplicity of converting excess energy into isopropanol for storage and retrieving it as needed highlights the potential impact of this innovative approach to renewable energy storage.