Abstract
A new kind of membrane free liquid metal battery was developed. The battery employs liquid sodium and zinc as electrodes both in liquid state, and NaCl-CaCl2 molten salts as electrolyte. The discharge flat voltage is in the range of about 1.4 V–1.8 V, and the cycle efficiency achieved is about 90% at low discharge current densities (below 40 mA cm−2). Moreover, this battery can also be charged and discharged at high current density with good performance. The discharge flat voltage is above 1.1 V when it is discharged at 100 mA cm−2, while it is about 0.8 V with 100% cycle efficiency when it is discharged at 200 mA cm−2. Compared to other reported liquid metal battery, this battery has lower cost, which suggests broad application prospect in energy storage systems for power grid.
