Liquid Metal Batteries

There has been at least one exciting development in batteries
in recent years. A convenient name is liquid metal batteries.
They offer low manufacturing costs, extreme power density,
and suitability for grid-scale storage.

Sodium-sulfur batteries were known in the 1980's, as a well-
publicized research effort by Ford Motor Company. Those
devices differ from the new liquid metal batteries, particularly
in the form of the separator (electrolyte) between the
electroactive materials. They are closely related.

One of the key advantages of batteries with liquid electroactive
materials is that there are no morphology changes on cycling,
such that the cycle life of the active materials may approach
infinite. In the sodium-sulfur cells, this condition is met for
the anode and cathode materials (being molten sodium and
molten sulfur, respectively), but the solid electrolyte (a beta-
aluminum oxide ceramic ion conductor) is susceptible to
mechanical degradation by the phase change occurring as the
sodium ions are reduced to the metallic state, as well as by
the corrosive effects of liquid sodium.

In the new liquid metal batteries, molten salt serves as both
the separator and electrolyte. Density differences allow two of
the three liquid layers to float on the heaviest layer. In some
sense, the battery is self-assembling. The very high ionic
conductivity of the electrolyte allows for extreme power
density, well suited to grid-scale power storage. The safety
issues implicit in molten materials make them not particularly
attractive for use in electric vehicles, but in time may be
resolved. In the proof-of-concept cell by Donald Sadoway's
research group at MIT, the three layers, from bottom to top,
are antimony, sodium sulfide and magnesium. During
discharge, the top and bottom layers are consumed to form
magnesium antimonide, which dissolves in the electrolyte.
Upon recharge, the metal layers are reformed. If corrosion
issues for the electrodes and container can be resolved, the
cycle life may be nearly infinite.

I was pleased to receive from Mark Mack, a consultant to the
chemical industry, www.markmackllc.com, the article linked
below. It discusses state-of-the-art battery technology and
research and it reminded me about the important innovation in
battery technology represented by the liquid metal cells, so
directly led to this article. Dr. Mack, his coathor, Dr. Pitchai,
and Batteries International have kindly given permission to
distribute their article as part of the Techbriefing series.
The article can be found here:

http://sites.google.com/site/matbriefing/home/filecabinet/Batteries2010.pdf

Mark Mack is organizing a marvelous conference styled
Charged2020 http://www.charged2020.com/ to be held in San
Diego 30 June to 02 July 2010 to address energy storage
challenges. The importance of energy to the global economy
cannot be overstated.

Donald Sadoway of MIT discusses his invention of one liquid
metal battery:

http://www.buildbabybuild.com/news/prof-donald-sadoway-talks-about-liquid-battery-technology-review

An earlier article on innovations in battery technology can be
found here:

http://sites.google.com/site/matbriefing/home/filecabinet/SCAMPER2010.pdf

Another type of electrical energy storage device that employs
liquid electroactive materials has been called a flow battery,
a redox battery and redox regenerative fuel cell. Those devices
will be the subject of a future Techbriefing post.

Full disclosure: I have owned US Antimony (UAMY) stock for the past
5 years and this article made me think that it might be a good
idea to buy more. So I did. This is not investment advice. I
am not an investment adviser. Do not confuse this free article
with a recommendation to buy or sell any stock or other
financial vehicle.

EEStor ceramic ultracapacitors in the news, again and Holiday Greetings! from MAT

We take this opportunity to wish everyone Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year in 2010. There is a lot of good news coming in the decades ahead. While the short term will be very challenging, to say the least, there will be some bright spots, which include exciting new technologies. Ultracapacitors have the potential to revolutionize many technology areas, particularly electric vehicles, power grid load leveling, electric aircraft and directed energy weapons.

Techbriefing (via Gmail) is a free service from Manning Applied Technology. Previous iterations of Techbriefing were sent using a Pegasus mail list via the appl-tech.com domain.

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http://www.appl-tech.com/Briefing_Charts/Brochure.pdf

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EEStor is said to have the technology for producing a type of ceramic ultracapacitor that can store energy at densities in the range of lithium-polymer batteries, with a lifespan in excess of 1 million complete charge-discharge cycles, the potential to be fully charged in a few seconds to a few minutes, and to release energy in milliseconds instead of minutes. The technology is premised on a ferroelectric ceramic called barium titanate, which has a very high dielectric constant.

EEStor is a privately held company. Their investors include Kleiner Perkins, which gives them a fair amount of credibility. The EEStor company is partially owned by Zenn Motor Company (ZMC):

www.zenncars.com/html/investor/EEStor/index.html

ZMC holds the exclusive worldwide rights to use EEStor devices in cars under 1400 kilograms (and various other vehicles).

Zenn Motor Company stock trades on the Vancouver exchange:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ZNN.V

and in the US as a pink sheet
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ZNNMF.PK

This is not a solicitation to buy or sell any stock or other financial vehicle. I am not a financial adviser and this free content does not constitute financial advice. Full disclosure: I have placed a bid for a very modest number of Zenn shares.

News leaks about EEStor continue and this one may be particularly illuminating:

http://bariumtitanate.blogspot.com/2009/12/top-lockheed-energy-exec-excited-about.html

excerpt 1:

Today at the National Press Club, Lockheed Martin held a hastily thrown together press conference to lay out its vision for its future in energy. Unfortunately, talking about EEStor was not on the agenda. However, thanks to a gutsy anonymous blogger, we have one heck of a post-event interview whereupon two of Lockheed's senior most executives demonstrate REAL TROUBLE hiding their enthusiasm about EEStor.

excerpt 2:

Key take aways from the interviews:

1) Lockheed Martin execs smile when you ask them about EEStor
2) They have trouble wiping the smile off their faces once they start smiling
3) The slightest hint of an EEStor concept brings the smile back
4) Why are they so happy?
5) What do they know?
6) Are you still reading this list?
7) Go to bed.
8) Now.
9) I mean it.
10) No, I am not the one who captured the video. ;-)

see also:
http://bariumtitanate.blogspot.com/2009/12/darryl-siry-on-doe.html