“It’s an fascinating cell idea,” says Jürgen Janek, a professor on the Institute of Bodily Chemistry on the College of Giessen in Germany, who was not concerned within the analysis. There’s been earlier analysis on sodium-air batteries prior to now, Janek says, however utilizing this kind of chemistry in a gasoline cell as an alternative is new.
“One of many important points with this sort of cell idea is the protection difficulty,” Janek says. Sodium metallic reacts very strongly with water. (You could have seen movies the place blocks of sodium metallic get thrown right into a lake, to dramatic impact). Requested about this difficulty, Chiang says the design of the cell ensures that water produced throughout reactions is repeatedly eliminated, so there’s not sufficient round to gasoline dangerous reactions. The strong electrolyte, a ceramic materials, additionally helps forestall reactions between water and sodium, Chiang provides.
One other query is what occurs to one of many cell’s merchandise, sodium hydroxide. Generally referred to as lye, it is an industrial chemical, utilized in merchandise like liquid drain-cleaning answer. One of many researchers’ recommendations is to dilute the product and launch it into the environment or ocean, the place it will react with carbon dioxide, capturing it in a secure type and stopping it from contributing to world warming. There are teams pursuing subject trials utilizing this actual chemical for ocean-based carbon elimination, although some have been met with controversy. The researchers additionally laid out the potential for a closed system, the place the chemical could possibly be collected and offered as a by-product.
There are financial elements working in favor of sodium-based methods, although it will take some work to construct up the mandatory provide chains. Right now, sodium metallic isn’t produced at very excessive volumes. Nevertheless, it may be comprised of sodium chloride (desk salt), which is extremely low-cost. And it was produced extra abundantly prior to now, because it was used within the course of of creating leaded gasoline. So there’s a precedent for a bigger provide chain, and it’s attainable that scaling up manufacturing of sodium metallic would make it low-cost sufficient to make use of in gasoline cell methods, Chiang says.
Chiang has cofounded an organization known as Propel Aero to commercialize the analysis. The challenge acquired funding from ARPA-E’s Propel-1K program, which goals to develop new types of high-power power storage for plane, trains, and ships.
The following step is to proceed analysis to enhance the cells’ efficiency and power density, and to start out designing small-scale methods. One potential early utility is drones. “We’d wish to make one thing fly throughout the subsequent 12 months,” Chiang says.
“If folks don’t discover it loopy, I’ll be somewhat dissatisfied,” Chiang says. “As a result of if an thought doesn’t sound loopy at first, it in all probability isn’t as revolutionary as you assume. Fortuitously, most individuals assume I’m loopy on this one.”
