title: Liquid-metal electrode to enable ultra-low temperature sodium-beta alumina batteries for renewable energy storage.
abstract: Commercial sodium-sulphur or sodium-metal halide batteries typically need an operating temperature of 300-350 °C, and one of the reasons is poor wettability of liquid sodium on the surface of beta alumina. Here we report an alloying strategy that can markedly improve the wetting, which allows the batteries to be operated at much lower temperatures. Our combined experimental and computational studies suggest that addition of caesium to sodium can markedly enhance the wettability. Single cells with Na-Cs alloy anodes exhibit great improvement in cycling life over those with pure sodium anodes at 175 and 150 °C. The cells show good performance even at as low as 95 °C. These results demonstrate that sodium-beta alumina batteries can be operated at much lower temperatures with successfully solving the wetting issue. This work also suggests a strategy to use liquid metals in advanced batteries that can avoid the intrinsic safety issues associated with dendrite formation.
authors: Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors: Xiaochuan
authors: X
authors: Lu
authors: Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors: Guosheng
authors: G
authors: Li
authors: Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors: Jin Y
authors: JY
authors: Kim
authors: Fundamental and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors: Donghai
authors: D
authors: Mei
authors: Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors: John P
authors: JP
authors: Lemmon
authors: Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors: Vincent L
authors: VL
authors: Sprenkle
authors: Energy and Environment Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Liu