Liquid battery to slash smart grid storage cost

Article By : Nick Flaherty

MIT researchers are using renewable sources to cut the cost of storing energy by using liquid flow batteries, wherein the positive and negative electrodes are in liquid form and separated by a membrane.

A team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers has made use of renewable sources to come up with a way to minimise the cost of storing energy. Liquid flow batteries, wherein the positive and negative electrodes are each in liquid form and separated by a membrane, are not a new concept, and some use same Li-ion technology present among batteries nowadays.

For this model, key components are not solid slabs that remain in place for the life of the battery, but rather tiny particles that can be carried along in a liquid slurry. Increasing storage capacity simply requires bigger tanks to hold the slurry.

Previous versions of liquid batteries have relied on complex systems of tanks, valves and pumps, adding to the cost and providing multiple opportunities for possible leaks and failures. The passive, gravity-fed arrangement similar to an old-fashioned hourglass, could offer great advantages due to the system's low cost and the simplicity of its design and operation, stated the researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The version, which substitutes a simple gravity feed for the pump system, eliminates that complexity.

The rate of energy production can be adjusted simply by changing the angle of the device, thus speeding up or slowing down the rate of flow. The design is not expected to go into production as it is but demonstrates some new ideas that can ultimately lead to a real product, said Yet-Ming Chiang, Kyocera professor of ceramics at MIT.

__Figure 1:__ *MIT researchers are using renewable sources to cut the cost of storing energy by using liquid flow batteries, wherein the positive and negative electrodes are in liquid form and separated by a membrane.*

The design has particles flowing through a narrow opening from one tank to another. The flow can then be reversed by turning the device over. In this case, the overall shape looks more like a rectangular window frame, with a narrow slot at the place where two sashes would meet in the middle.

In the proof-of-concept version the team built, only one of the two sides of the battery is composed of flowing liquid, while the other side, a sheet of lithium, is in solid form. The team decided to try out the concept in a simpler form before making their ultimate goal, a version where both sides (the positive and negative electrodes) are liquid and flow side by side through an opening while separated by a membrane.

Solid batteries and liquid batteries each have advantages, depending on their specific applications, Chiang indicated, but "the concept here shows that you don't need to be confined by these two extremes. This is an example of hybrid devices that fall somewhere in the middle."

The new design should make possible simpler and more compact battery systems, which could be inexpensive and modular, allowing for gradual expansion of grid-connected storage systems to meet growing demand, Chiang added. Such storage systems will be critical for scaling up the use of intermittent power sources such as wind and solar.

While a conventional, all-solid battery requires electrical connectors for each of the cells that make up a large battery system, in the flow battery only the small region at the centre, the "neck" of the hourglass, requires these contacts, greatly simplifying the mechanical assembly of the system, Chiang noted. The components are simple enough that they could be made through injection moulding or even 3D printing, he said.

In addition, the basic concept of the flow battery makes it possible to choose independently the two main characteristics of a desired battery system: its energy density (how much energy it can deliver at a given moment) and its power density (how much total power can be stored in the system). For the innovative liquid battery, the power density is determined by the size of the "stack," the contacts where the battery particles flow through, while the energy density is determined by the size of its storage tanks. "In a conventional battery, the power and energy are highly interdependent," Chiang continued.

The trickiest part of the design process, he said, was controlling the characteristics of the liquid slurry to control the flow rates. The thick liquids behave a bit like ketchup in a bottle; it's hard to get it flowing in the first place, but then once it starts, the flow can be too sudden. Getting the flow just right required a long process of fine-tuning both the liquid mixture and the design of the mechanical structures.

The rate of flow can be controlled by adjusting the angle of the device, Chiang said, and the team found that at a very shallow angle, close to horizontal, "the device would operate most efficiently, at a very steady but low flow rate." The basic concept should work with many different chemical compositions for the different parts of the battery, he stated, but "we chose to demonstrate it with one particular chemistry, one that we understood from previous work. We're not proposing this particular chemistry as the end game."