MIT researchers develop liquid metal battery for the grid and the home
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted November 20th 2009 11:47AM
posted November 20th 2009 11:47AM
We've see plenty of green power research over the years, from solar plants to underwater turbines , but relying on the sun or the sea for electricity is not without its challenges: the sun doesn't always shine, for instance, and sometimes the water is calm. A group at MIT led by professor Donald Sadoway is developing grid-scale storage solutions for times when electricity isn't being generated. Since these batteries are intended for the power grid instead of cellphones and Roombas, the researchers can use materials not feasible in consumer electronics -- in this case, high temperature liquid metals. Besides being recently awarded a grant from ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency, Energy) to put these things in green power facilities, MIT has just embarked on a joint venture with the French oil company Total to develop a smaller-scale version of the technology for homes and office buildings.
I like the first sentence of the article
@without1username
Sometimes it snows in April.
A mimetic polyalloy?
SkyNet confirmed!
The guy on the left kinda looks like Mr. Bean
@dtzitz and the guy on the right kinda looks like Shawn Spencer from Psych.
Sadoway is the best professor at MIT. Just awesome.
About time too.
@uberfu
You forgot the "d" on the end of your name.
this article tells me nothing
@Nelagster then read the source article.
The guy on the right is kind of hot
@frombuenosaires kind of is right
@frombuenosaires so true.
@dilidobeachclub i laughed because at first i thought your profile name was dildobeachclub...
@frombuenosaires
Sort of looks like the guy from Stargate Universe
I didn't notice it didn't say dildo until I read your comment. And the guy on the right is indeed hot.
@uberfu To answer the questions about keeping the metals at high temperature, this should help -
FTA: "The whole device is kept at a high temperature, around 700 degrees Celsius, so that the layers remain molten. In the small devices being tested in the lab, maintaining this temperature requires an outside heater, but Sadoway says that in the full-scale version, the electrical current being pumped into, or out of, the battery will be sufficient to maintain that temperature without any outside heat source."
Don't ask me if it'll work or not, I'm just pointing out that this was addressed in the article.
It's my way, or the Sadoway
This is what we need. Hopefully they are successful.
The sun will always shine, but we won't always see it. For a few billion years, at least.
From the article: "It’s an electrochemical process that runs at high temperatures (700 deg C), and at a current of hundreds of thousands of amps...” “We’re talking about batteries of a size never seen before..." Sounds to me like they're talking about something on the order of a nuclear reactor. I just hope that the possible failure modes are not on the same scale.
@CityZen
*sigh* nuclear power is very, very safe. chernobyl doesn't count because it was a shitty USSR plant. the only incident worth mentioning in the US was Three Mile Island, and there were no casualties there. and plant design has even gotten much safer since then.
@maveric101 agreed. its almost the same as someone being afraid of hydrogen fuel cell cars because they heard the Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen. That failed and killed people, so won't this? Not even remotely the same technology.
@maveric101
"possible failure modes" have nothing to do with relative safety, but what can happen if something DOES go wrong, however unlikely. You're more likely to suffer an accident at home or walking down the street than flying in an aeroplane, but tell that to the survivors of Japan Airlines Flight 123.
You die in a car or you die in a plane... the result is the same.
@maveric101
I don't think it's valid to Chernobyl doesn't count. What prevents some sketchy country from coming up with a poorly-designed liquid metal battery plant?
I don't actually mean to spread FUD. Rather, I'm just exploring the possibilities in all directions. If this tech really works, it's pretty exciting. But there do seem to be a few loose ends at the moment.
@Andir
You can't fit a few hundred people in the back of a car, and you can't level a small town with one - or indeed demolish sky scrapers.
So the T-1000 is born
Also...
"Since these batteries are intended for the power grid instead of cellphones and Roombas, the researchers can use materials not feasible in consumer electronics"
How is this for the home?
hehe it's awesome when you see your professor getting publicity at Engadget.
I suspect the Engadget folks have some kind of affection with MIT. We're the university that gets most coverage here :-P
If I had a dollar for every breathless "breakthrough" announced by MIT over the past 40 years, I could probably buy a netbook. Don't you remember last year's "PV window coatings will power green homes!"? So practical and affordable.
I have nothing against R&D, but PR departments and popular science writers who spin it as something imminently useful are not doing us any favors.
@uberfu
I'm with you. Even thought the heat generation was addressed for a full scale version. How much energy is required to keep the metal molten?
As Andir noted, I can't imagine a household application which would have the current demand required to do that, nor an alternative energy source, for home use, that could supply such a demand. I hope this new battery is efficient enough to offset the energy wasted in heat to operate it.