Eco Factor: Super batteries made from liquid metals could save enormous amounts of electricity.
With electronic gadgets getting smaller, researchers around the globe are envisioning the smallest possible batteries that would be able to fuel the next-gen electronic equipment. Brains over at MIT have an altogether different opinion. They are working on batteries that could possibly fit in football fields. These batteries, made entirely from liquid metals, will be able to store power from solar and wind plants, for days that are not conducive for renewable energy generation.
All batteries, whether dry or wet, are made of three components – an anode layer, a cathode layer and a layer separating these two. The batteries under development at MIT will have liquid metal anode, cathode and the separating layer. Since all the metals will have a different density, they’ll naturally separate out in the mixture. Being a liquid, these batteries would be far more efficient than the batteries in use today.
The Dark Side:
The research is still in a conceptual stage, and researchers are still figuring out the most cost-effective and ecofriendly way to keep the metals in a liquid state. Currently the metals which will be used in the batteries need to be heated to 500 degrees Celsius, which will require a huge amount of energy.
Via: MSNBC
