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Some of these new potential grid battery
technologies include:
All Liquid Batteries
Donald Sodaway of MIT received $7 million from the DOE ARPA program to
continue development on an "All Liquid" grid scale battery. This
novel technology consists of a simple cell with 3 liquid layers
separated by gravity, like oil and water. A layer of liquid metal
cathode, a layer of molten salt electrolyte, and another layer of liquid
metal, all cooking at (according to their published patent application)
500C - 700C. Since there is no solid diffusion issue, and given
the fact that everything is running at high temperature, the reaction
rates and corresponding current densities are insanely high - > 5
Amps/cm^2. Definitely one to watch.
http://www.technologyreview.com/Video/?vid=264
A better Zinc-Air battery?
Fluidic Energy also received $5.1 million for the DOE ARPA program for
development of a novel twist on a Zinc-Air utility storage battery,
where the Zinc ions are pumped through a porous anode. Apparently
the Zinc plating happens in the pores of the porous anode, avoiding the
issue of Zinc dendrites.
The same company is being funded by the DOE to produce a battery using
Ionic Liquids as electrolyte. Ionic liquids, different from water, won't
evaporate out the air cathode or air membrane that is required in a
Metal-Air battery. Imagine transparent shampoo, a viscous liquid that
doesn't evaporate, and conducts electricity well. They also don't
electrolysize into Hydrogen and Oxygen as water does in the presence of
high-voltage electrodes. By using an electrolyte of Ionic Liquids, it
may be possible to use a higher-energy metals, and therefore build a
battery of much higher energy density, potentially an order of magnitude
higher than Lithium Ion.
http://fluidicenergy.com/
New Sodium Ion players?
Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory, in cooperation with Eagle Picher (that already makes Nickel
Hydrogen batteries for Satellites and military applications) is working
on new Sodium Ion designs for grid scale batteries.
Even more interesting is technology for a safe, low-cost sodium-ion
battery system coming out of Carnegie Mellon University, and recently
funded by the DOE at $10 million. This technology is run at room
temperature with an aqueous sodium (basically sea water) electrolyte,
and, if high cycle life can be obtained, could represent a winning
solution.
Advanced Vanadium based Flow Batteries
Two new companies developing Vanadium Flow Batteries are Cellstrom of
Austria and The Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology in Germany.
http://www.ict.fraunhofer.de/EN/coreco/AE/Batt_tech/Redoxflow-Batterie/index.jsp
http://www.cellstrom.at/Home.17.0.html?&L=1 |
