Are liquid metal batteries a viable solution to grid-scale stationary energy storage?

With an intrinsic dendrite-free feature, high rate capability, facile cell fabrication and use of earth-abundance materials, liquid metal batteries (LMBs) are regarded as a promising solution to grid-scale stationary energy storage.

Why is Ga liquid metal wettable at room temperature?

Take Ga liquid metal for example, the high surface tension of pristine Ga liquid metal at room temperature supports its natural tendency to form spherical droplets that minimize surface energy, providing the worst wettability towards other surfaces, not only to liquid electrolytes but also to solid substrates [140, 202].

How can battery chemistries reduce the operating temperature of LMBS?

Exploring new battery chemistries facilitates to lower the operation temperature of LMBs, and intensive efforts have been made to design new liquid alloy electrodes, molten salt electrolytes and solid ceramic electrolytes.

Are liquid metal batteries corrosive?

Although conventional liquid metal batteries require high temperatures to liquify electrodes, and maintain the high conductivity of molten salt electrolytes, the degrees of electrochemical irreversibility induced by their corrosive active components emerged as a drawback.

How can a thermal management system be optimized for grid-scale energy storage?

The obvious path forward is to develop a fully comprehensive model that comprises all the aforementioned phenomenon (mass transport, heat transfer, instability, electromagnetic effect) to optimize the thermal management system for the LMB module, which will be more practical for grid-scale energy storage (Fig. 8 b).

Can LMBS revolutionize grid-scale energy storage?

LMBs have great potential to revolutionize grid-scale energy storage because of a variety of attractive features such as high power density and cyclability, low cost, self-healing capability, high efficiency, ease of scalability as well as the possibility of using earth-abundant materials.