Calcium-Antimony Alloys as Electrodes for Liquid Metal Batteries

Journal Article · Fri Aug 08 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of the Electrochemical Society

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0801412jes· OSTI ID:1211497

Ouchi, T; Kim, H; Ning, XH; Sadoway, DR

The performance of a calcium-antimony (Ca-Sb) alloy serving as the positive electrode in a Ca vertical bar vertical bar Sb liquid metal battery was investigated in an electrochemical cell, Ca(in Bi) vertical bar LiCl-NaCl-CaCl2 vertical bar Ca(in Sb). The equilibrium potential of the Ca-Sb electrode was found to lie on the interval, 1.2-0.95 V versus Ca, in good agreement with electromotive force (emf) measurements in the literature. During both alloying and dealloying of Ca at the Sb electrode, the charge transfer and mass transport at the interface are facile enough that the electrode potential varies linearly from 0.95 to 0.75 V vs Ca(s) as current density varies from 50 to 500 mA cm(-2). The discharge capacity of the Ca vertical bar vertical bar Sb cells increases as the operating temperature increases due to the higher solubility and diffusivity of Ca in Sb. The cell was successfully cycled with high coulombic efficiency (similar to 100%) and small fade rate (<0.01% cycle(-1)). These data combined with the favorable costs of these metals and salts make the Ca vertical bar vertical bar Sb liquid metal battery attractive for grid-scale energy storage. (C) The Author(s) 2014. Published by ECS. All rights reserved.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AR0000047
• OSTI ID: 1211497
• Journal Information: Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Vol. 161, Issue 12; ISSN 0013-4651
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English