mit research on liquid metal battery

1. LIQUID METAL BATTERIES
BY –
ABHISHEK SINGH
1401440004
ME 14

2. CONTENTS
• Introduction
• Liquid metal batteries
• Principle involved
• Working
• Charging and discharging
• Choice of materials
• Benefits of going liquid
• Commercialization
• Conclusion

3. • Donald Sadoway (right)
of the Department of
Material science and
engineering MIT, David
Bradwell MEng ’06,
PhD ’11, and their
collaborators have
developed a novel
molten-metal battery that
is low-cost, high-
capacity, efficient, long-
lasting, and easy to
manufacture
• Characteristic that make
it ideal for storing
electricity on power grids
today and in the future.

4. LIQUID METAL BATTERIES
• Molten salt batteries ( liquid metal batteries) are
a class of battery that uses molten salts as an
electrolyte
• offers both a high energy density and a high
power density.
• Traditional thermal batteries can store in their
solid state at room temperature for long periods
• Rechargeable liquid metal batteries are used for
electric vehicles and potentially for grid energy
storage,

6. PRINCIPLE INVOLVED
• Sadoway turned to a process he knew well:
aluminum smelting.
• Aluminum smelting is a huge scale, inexpensive
process conducted inside electrochemical cells that
operate reliably over long periods and produce metal
at very low cost while consuming large amounts of
electrical energy.
• Sadoway thought: "Could we run the smelter in
reverse so it gives back its electricity?” i.e applying
heat and getting electricity .

7. • WORKING
– the negative electrode (top) is a low-
density metal called here Metal A;
– the positive electrode (bottom) is a
higher-density metal called Metal B;
– The electrolyte between them is a
molten salt.
– During discharge (shown here), Metal A
loses electrons (e-), becoming ions (A+)
that travel through the electrolyte to the
bottom electrode
– The electrons pass through an external
circuit, powering an electric load on the
way.
– At the bottom electrode, the Metal A
ions and electrons rejoin and then alloy
with the Metals electrode.

8. CHARGING AND DISCHARGING
• Discharging Charging

9. CHOICE OF MATERIALS
• The challenge was to choose the best materials for the new battery,
particularly for its electrodes.
• To keep costs down, Sadoway and Bradwell needed to use electrode
materials that were earth abundant, inexpensive, and long lived.
• To achieve high voltage, they had to pair a strong electron donor with
a strong electron acceptor.
• And finally, all the materials had to be liquid at practical temperatures.
• Sadoway and Bradwell chose magnesium for the top electrode,
antimony for the bottom electrode, and a salt mixture containing
magnesium chloride for the electrolyte

10. • To keep the components melted, the battery had to operate at 700
degrees Celsius (1,292 degrees Fahrenheit), which would corrode and
degrade the cell wall .
• In place of the antimony, they check lead, tin, bismuth, and alloys of
similar metals .
• New cell chemistries began to show significant reductions in
operating temperature.
• Cells of sodium and bismuth operated at 560 degrees Celsius.
• Lithium and bismuth cells operated at 550 C.

11. • And a battery with a negative electrode of lithium and a
positive electrode of an antimony - lead alloy operated at 450
C.
• They recently assembled a proof of concept cell using a
positive electrode of a lead - bismuth alloy, a negative
electrode of sodium metal, and a novel electrolyte of a mixed
Hydroxide halide.
• Cell operated at just 270 C—more than 400 C lower than the
initial magnesium antimony battery while maintaining the
same novel cell design of three naturally separating liquid
layers

12. BENEFITS OF GOING LIQUID
• Because the components are liquid, the transfer of electrical
charges and chemical constituents within each component and
from one to another is ultrafast, permitting the rapid flow of
large currents into and out of the battery.
• While solid electrodes are prone to cracking and other forms
of mechanical failure over time, liquid electrodes do not
degrade with use.
• The self segregating nature of the liquid components could
facilitate simpler, less expensive manufacturing compared to
conventional batteries.

13. COMMERCIALIZATION
• In 2010, the Liquid Metal Battery Corporation (LMBC) was
formed to commercialize the Liquid Metal Battery technology
invented at MIT.
• LMBC was renamed Ambri in 2012; the name "Ambri" is
derived from "cAMBRIdge” , where the company is
headquartered
• In 2012, Ambri received $15 million in funding from Bill
Gates, Khosla Ventures and Total S.A.
• In 2014, Ambri raised $35 million in funding from Bill Gates,
Khosla Ventures, Total S.A., KLP Enterprises and GVB.

14. CONCLUSION
• Cells made of low cost , Earth abundant materials confirm that
the liquid battery operates efficiently without losing significant
capacity or mechanically degrading—common problems in
today's batteries with solid electrodes.
• Large scale storage would also make today's power grid more
resilient and efficient, allowing operators to deliver quick
supplies during outages and to meet temporary demand .

15. THANK YOU