The technique for liquid metal batteries was created in the Group-Sadoway lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by professors Donald Sadoway and David Bradwell. The game-changing battery is called Ambri.
Let's dive further and explain why these batteries are game changers, and how they can be implemented in the solar energy sphere.
The advantages of liquid metal batteries.
These batteries can be built without lithium and cobalt, components, that are easily inflammable and can lead to severe environmental issues. Lithium batteries are also very dependent on weather conditions, which affects their performance.
On the contrary, liquid metal batteries have a longer lifespan than conventional batteries because they deteriorate more gradually and can maintain 99 percent of their initial capacity over 5,000 charging cycles.
“With Ambri, you have a longer-life, lower-cost, safer battery,” Adam Briggs, the CCO (Chief Commercial Officer) of Ambri stated in an interview with Forbes, “That’s what the energy storage market is looking for, and that’s the reason we’re coming to market and hoping to gain our fair share of it versus lithium-ion.”
Donald Sadoway, the inventor of the liquid battery, said this is how liquid battery works: "Our liquid metal batteries work just like conventional batteries, only their components are all liquid. I use a low-density liquid metal on top, a high-density liquid metal on the bottom, and, in between, a molten salt. So you have two electrodes separated by an electrolyte, just like in a conventional battery".
Liquid metal batteries and solar.
As we said before, the main innovation of the new batteries is safety and energy storing efficency, lack of which was a hurdle for the mass storage of renewable energy. But now, we might have the ability to use clean energy generated throughout the day at evening or morning peak load hours, whenever we want. This would be made possible by large-scale storage of solar and wind energy, improving the dependability of renewable energy sources and assisting society in lowering carbon emissions.
In announcing the European Inventor Award 2022 finalists, EPO President António Campinos stated that Sadoway's invention "could reduce the cost of storing solar and wind power, providing consumers with more affordable and clean energy, with the potential to mitigate climate change in a sustainable manner."
This is the main story behind the liquid metal batteries and the perspective of them making mass appearance in the renewable energy sphere. You can see our other news about renewable energy industry here.