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MIT working on molten metal battery for grid storage

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station240:
http://phys.org/news/2016-01-battery-molten-metals-low-cost-long-lasting.html


--- Quote ---The negative electrode—the top layer in the battery—is a low-density liquid metal that readily donates electrons. The positive electrode—the bottom layer—is a high-density liquid metal that's happy to accept those electrons. And the electrolyte—the middle layer—is a molten salt that transfers charged particles but won't mix with the materials above or below. Because of the differences in density and the immiscibility of the three materials, they naturally settle into three distinct layers and remain separate as the battery operates.

--- End quote ---

Seems the battery design they have now works, but there is one more thing they need.

--- Quote ---Ambri researchers are now tackling one final engineering challenge: developing a low-cost, practical seal that will stop air from leaking into each individual cell.
--- End quote ---

HAL-42b:
Temperatures still too high.

What will be the power expenditure of keeping the batteries molten?

What happens if the battery leaks?

What happens in case of water ingress? Water and molten metal don't go together very well. I don't even mention Lithium.

Who will be allowed to store this much molten Lead when electronics manufacturers aren't even allowed lead in solder?

Kleinstein:
The high temperature will cause some power loss, but not much in large installations. An other competing battery technology is sodium - sulfur also needs to be kept hot to work, though not that high in temperature. So this technology will not work for small units, but large units (e.g. 10 tons and up).

Using lead is not a problem, as for these large installations recycling is usually not a problem. Something like 10 t of lead that such a battery may use have a value significant value. So they will not forget to recycle. So it would not even be a problem if the would use more toxic materials like mercury or cadmium. The bismuth may also be the more problematic part than lead.

Sealing the battery is needed to keep water and oxygen out.  So you have to protect is from getting wet anyway - water will evaporate before even coming in. As such a system stores a large amount of energy, there is always a chance for a strong reaction is case of a breakdown - but there is no way around that if you store energy.  If the battery should leak, the heat insulation is one of the first things to break down. So leaking lead or salt will solidify - leaking sodium / lithium might burn.

DenzilPenberthy:

--- Quote from: station240 on February 05, 2016, 12:51:42 pm ---Seems the battery design they have now works, but there is one more thing they need.

--- Quote ---Ambri researchers are now tackling one final engineering challenge: developing a low-cost, practical seal that will stop air from leaking into each individual cell.
--- End quote ---

--- End quote ---

They need to talk to a manufacturer of spark plugs. They figured that out a long time ago (after a lot of work).

HAL-42b:

--- Quote from: Kleinstein on February 05, 2016, 02:34:47 pm ---The high temperature will cause some power loss, but not much in large installations.

--- End quote ---

In large installations (say 100 batteries 10 tons each) the leaking heat will be so much that humans won't be able to walk in for maintenance. If you provide ventilation you are defeating the reason for isolating it in the first place.

It will require handling with remote controlled cranes. Like soaking pits in steel manufacturing.

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