Unusable for electric cars, but ideal emergency power storage for infrastructures: Empa is researching salt batteries together with a Ticino company.
Swiss technology for new batteries: Meike Heinz conducts research in the Empa battery laboratory. – Empa
The most important thing in brief
- Salt batteries are long-lasting, maintenance-free and fireproof.
- They are ideal for stationary storage.
- Empa researchers want to improve the composition of salt batteries.
Ad
It was originally developed for electric cars, today it supplies power to cell phone antennas, and tomorrow perhaps entire residential areas: The salt battery is a safe and long-lasting battery technology with enormous potential. Empa researchers are working with the Ticino salt battery manufacturer Horien Salt Battery Solutions to further develop this Swiss technology.
Salt batteries have not proven successful for electromobility: Today’s electric cars run on lithium-ion batteries, which are lighter and can be charged more quickly. But in other areas of application, the salt battery is superior to its lithium-ion competitors. Their different cell structure offers several advantages. For example in terms of safety: Although salt batteries require an operating temperature of around 300 degrees Celsius, they cannot burn or explode. That’s why they are also used where lithium-ion batteries are not even permitted, such as in mining and tunnel construction or on offshore oil and gas production platforms. This makes them ideal emergency power storage for critical infrastructure such as cell phone antennas. Even in remote and exposed locations, the long-lasting and maintenance-free salt batteries can perform their work reliably for decades.
However, the operating temperature is also a disadvantage of this battery technology: salt batteries need an “auxiliary heater” in order to be ready for use. But is a battery that requires electricity even economical? “Depending on the application, it is more economical to keep a battery warm than to cool it,” explains Empa researcher Meike Heinz.
Cell chemistry for the future
Empa researchers focus on cell chemistry. The raw materials for molten salt batteries are mostly cheap and available in large quantities. The structure of the cell also enables easy recycling. However, since the cathode material nickel is increasingly considered critical, Horien and Empa set about reducing the nickel content in the cells. They investigated whether nickel could even be completely replaced by zinc in molten salt batteries. Nevertheless, the researchers have already found promising approaches to stabilizing the cathode microstructure.
Further follow-up projects are already being planned to further improve Swiss technology. Thanks to their safety, their long service life and the absence of critical raw materials, salt batteries are ideal as stationary storage devices. If they can be produced inexpensively and in large quantities, they could one day supply entire settlement areas with electricity.
More on the topic:
E-mobilityRecyclingSaltSwiss technologyFire
