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Liquid-metal electrode to enable ultra-low temperature sodium–beta alumina batteries for renewable energy storage

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  • Xiaochuan Lu

    (Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • Guosheng Li

    (Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • Jin Y. Kim

    (Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • Donghai Mei

    (Fundamental and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • John P. Lemmon

    (Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • Vincent L. Sprenkle

    (Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • Jun Liu

    (Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

Abstract

Commercial sodium–sulphur or sodium–metal halide batteries typically need an operating temperature of 300–350 °C, and one of the reasons is poor wettability of liquid sodium on the surface of beta alumina. Here we report an alloying strategy that can markedly improve the wetting, which allows the batteries to be operated at much lower temperatures. Our combined experimental and computational studies suggest that addition of caesium to sodium can markedly enhance the wettability. Single cells with Na–Cs alloy anodes exhibit great improvement in cycling life over those with pure sodium anodes at 175 and 150 °C. The cells show good performance even at as low as 95 °C. These results demonstrate that sodium–beta alumina batteries can be operated at much lower temperatures with successfully solving the wetting issue. This work also suggests a strategy to use liquid metals in advanced batteries that can avoid the intrinsic safety issues associated with dendrite formation.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaochuan Lu & Guosheng Li & Jin Y. Kim & Donghai Mei & John P. Lemmon & Vincent L. Sprenkle & Jun Liu, 2014. "Liquid-metal electrode to enable ultra-low temperature sodium–beta alumina batteries for renewable energy storage," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5578
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5578
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    Cited by:

    1. Liying Tian & Zhenghao Yang & Shiyi Yuan & Tye Milazzo & Qian Cheng & Syed Rasool & Wenrui Lei & Wenbo Li & Yucheng Yang & Tianwei Jin & Shengyu Cong & Joseph Francis Wild & Yonghua Du & Tengfei Luo &, 2024. "Designing electrolytes with high solubility of sulfides/disulfides for high-energy-density and low-cost K-Na/S batteries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.

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