Eugene Beh talks about growing up in Singapore, winning early inventor awards, and launching Quino to rethink energy storage.
Eugene Beh sees a persistent gap between innovation and real-world needs, and has built his career trying to close it. Growing up in Singapore, Beh was already winning national science competitions, including the National STEM Talent Search .
He also secured two Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors’ Awards for his original creations as a student. Trained in chemistry at Harvard and Stanford, Beh has spent years inventing safer, large-scale energy storage technologies, including revolutionary aqueous organic flow batteries, during his, he went on to fund Quino Energy in 2021 to bring his postdoctoral work beyond the lab. In this interview withEugene Beh: I always felt I had a natural aptitude for science.
While others had to memorize things in physics, chemistry, and biology, it all just made sense to me.and won it twice. The first time, in third grade, I built a simple device to separate plates and bowls from cutlery. It was crude, but it worked. The second project, which I’m most proud of, was in eighth grade.
I built a system that lets you advance presentation slides using a laser pointer. Back then, nothing like that existed. I taught myself electronics from a library book, built prototypes, and eventually got it working. A month before the award was announced, Logitech launched the first wireless clicker.
It proved to me that I had built something real, something the market actually needed.. That’s what led me to Harvard, and later to Stanford for my PhD in chemistry. But my time at both universities also gave me the chance to explore beyond science. At Harvard in particular, I took advantage of the liberal arts environment to study languages and take classes in literature and sociology, which I hadn’t been able to pursue in Singapore.
It broadened my perspective, and it allowed me to explore different interests while still working with top scientists on challenging research.store energy using two liquid electrolytes kept in separate tanks. You can think of them like fuel and oxidizer in a combustion engine. These liquids are pumped into a central unit, where a chemical reaction generates electricity. When you recharge the system, the reaction reverses.
Traditional flow batteries use metals like vanadium, which are expensive and supply-constrained. But aqueous flow batteries are an organic alternative. They use molecules derived from common industrial chemicals. They act as a drop-in replacement, but at much lower cost and with greater availability.
We need better energy storage because solar and wind aren’t always available. While costs have dropped, crucial challenges such as price, safety, and supply chains remain. Lithium-ion batteries can be expensive, flammable, and heavily dependent on global supply chains, much of which runs through China. We need to address those issues by using water-based, nonflammable systems made from widely available materials that can be produced locally.
It’s a major challenge. Even countries like India are struggling to scale renewables because battery supply chains are heavily tied to China. Safety is another barrier. The idea stemmed from connecting my earlier work in organic flow batteries with desalination.
I realized the molecules I had developed could act as a redox shuttle , and could be integrated into electrodialysis systems. That allowed us to desalinate or concentrate salts in water much more efficiently, without splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen. It was really about combining ideas from different fields to solve a new problem.. Before the pandemic, there was an annual recognition for the most prolific inventor.
However, those events were paused during those years, so the achievement was never formally recognized. With that in mind, I was managing the IP portfolio at the time, so I had visibility into the numbers. It ended up being more of an informal distinction, but still a meaningful one. Quino’s technology comes directly from my postdoc.
We spun it out and licensed it. When I left Harvard, the team continued developing it. Early on, we could make it cheap but short-lived. Later, I improved the durability, but at a higher cost.
Over time, the team achieved both. I stayed in close contact. When that breakthrough happened, they asked if I wanted to spin it out. Around April 2021, the US Department of Energy released funding that aligned perfectly with the technology.
I took that as the signal to move forward, left Xerox PARC, applied for funding, secured it, and founded Quino Energy. Flammability is a major issue. As more lithium-ion batteries are deployed, some failures are inevitable, whether from defects or operational errors, which leads to fires. Another limitation is cycle life, especially with deep cycling.
In applications like data centers, where batteries may cycle multiple times a day, lithium-ion systems degrade relatively quickly. Flow batteries don’t have that problem. Their lifetime isn’t tied to how often or how deeply they’re cycled, making them well-suited for both long-duration and high-frequency use. They can also be deployed in compact tank-based systems, which helps optimize space..
That’s true by weight, but it’s less relevant for grid storage. In stationary systems, what matters is space. With tank-based designs, flow batteries can be very land-efficient. We believe they can store up to three times more energy in the same footprint as lithium-ion.
The biggest issue is communication. Visible failures, like the Moss Landing fires, shape how people view the entire industry. At the same time, necessary policy changes such asThere’s a clear gap. Most people don’t see how energy is generated, stored, and delivered.
They see the bill or a headline. As an industry, we need to communicate that complexity much better. It would be cheap, safe fusion energy. It would change everything.
But it’s always been several decades away, and it’s still the same today. So while it’s an exciting prospect, we can’t rely on it. In the meantime, we need to focus on improving energy storage with the technologies we have. One key lesson is that it’s not just about what you know, it’s who you know.
That becomes especially important when moving into business. You can have excellent technology, yet without the right connections, gaining traction or funding is hard. Many investors aren’t technical experts, so visibility and relationships do matter. For scientists, that means balancing technical excellence with networking and communication, which are often overlooked but critical for real-world impact.
Based in Skopje, North Macedonia. Her work has appeared in Daily Mail, Mirror, Daily Star, Yahoo, NationalWorld, Newsweek, Press Gazette and others. She covers stories on batteries, wind energy, sustainable shipping and new discoveries. When she's not chasing the next big science story, she's traveling, exploring new cultures, or enjoying good food with even better wine. InterviewsInterviewsInterviews
Energy Storage Flow Batteries Inventions And Machines Lithium Ion Batteries Organic Flow Batteries Physics Renewable Energy Sustainability Water-Based Batteries
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Fire at Eugene O'Neill Theatre halts 'The Book of Mormon' showA fire has forced the closure of the Broadway theater that has long hosted “The Book of Mormon.” Officials say the blaze began in an electrical room, causing substantial damage to the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. The venue will be closed for some time, pending repairs, according to New York Fire Department Assistant Chief David Simms.
Read more »
Massive 3-alarm fire rages at NYC's Eugene O’Neill TheatreA fire erupted at the Big Apple’s Eugene O’Neill Theatre -- the home of the hit play 'The Book of Mormon' -- Monday morning, according to FDNY officials. More than 60 units and nearly 200 first responders rushed to the Broadway venue starting around 10 a.m. to battle the three-alarm blaze in Midtown Manhattan, the FDNY said.
Read more »
Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre catches fire, upcoming 'The Book of Mormon' performances canceledFirefighters responded to Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theater Monday morning after a blaze broke out.
Read more »
Eugene Weems, CA-33 candidate, 2026 primary election questionnaireAhead of the election, the Southern California News Group compiled a list of questions to pose to the candidates vying to represent you.
Read more »
Eugene Mirman doing well, buying LegosThe Bob's Burgers comedian just released a special recorded before his car crash, though he thinks he'll probably joke about the accident eventually.
Read more »
‘Book of Mormon' return in limbo as Eugene O'Neill Theatre ordered to vacateThe Eugene O'Neill Theatre, home to Broadway's long-running 'The Book of Mormon,' was issued a full vacate order days after a fire broke out at the midtown…
Read more »