Liquid electrodes could upend battery technology

摘要

Liquid flow batteries - in which the positive and negative electrodes are each in liquid form and separated by a membrane - are not a new concept. The basic technology can use a variety of chemical formulations, including the same chemical compounds found in today's lithium-ion batteries. In a new design developed by a team of MIT researchers, a liquid slurry of electrode particles is carried through a simple gravity-fed pump system, eliminating the complex system of tanks, valves, and pumps used by an earlier design.