The molten materials can also operate at much higher current densities than solids, and for longer periods of time.Īmbri cofounder Donald Sadoway, a professor of materials chemistry at MIT, conceived of the liquid-metal cell as a way to build a grid battery that could store many hours’ worth of energy from solar and wind power at very low cost. Conventional rechargeable batteries have solid electrodes that degrade with use, but a battery with only liquid parts could last for years without losing much of its energy storage capacity.
The result is a battery whose components are all liquid. When the cell is heated to around 500 ☌, the disks and powder inside-the battery’s electrodes and electrolyte, respectively-will melt. It’s not only their size that makes them novel: the chemistry in Ambri’s technology is different from any other currently used in batteries. Inside it are two metal pucks and some salt powder a round plate has been welded to the top to make a 100-pound battery cell.īy stringing together a number of these large cells, Ambri plans to make huge batteries, as big as 40-foot shipping containers. Made of thick steel, it’s a container shaped like a large round cake pan, 16 inches in diameter. Standing next to the Ping-Pong table in the offices of the battery startup Ambri, chief technology officer David Bradwell needs both hands to pick up what he hopes will be a building block for a new type of electricity grid.
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