Hosted by: Feng Wang

Stationary electric energy storage has been considered as one of the most attractive systems, which are crucial to stimulate the growth of renewable energy resources and to improve the reliability of electric power grids. Under the support from U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, PNNL Stationary Energy Storage group has been primary focusing on practical large scale batteries, which are important parts of Advanced Grid Research & Development. In this presentation, an overview of those activities will be briefly summarized. Of the particular interest is sodium-metal halide (Na-MH) battery, which has gained increasing interest as a large-scale energy storage device owing to several advantages such as abundant resource, high voltage, long cycle life, safe cell failure mode, and ease of assembly in discharged state. Researches at PNNL have been focused on developing advanced Na-MH battery technologies by lowering the operating temperature less than 200°C and developing low cost cathode materials. Another attractive path to increase energy storage capacities, lower the material costs, and improving operation safety involves the use of multi-valent elements. Key benefits of multi-valent systems over mono-valent (i.e. Li) include increased electrons available per molecule which increases energy density. Mg metal anodes are particularly interesting, as Mg platting can be completed without forming dendritic structures, which are common for Li metal anode. However, numerous scientific and technical hurdles still need to be overcome before integrating Mg anode to practical rechargeable batteries. This talk will present rational synthesis methods and characterizations for novel Mg electrolytes as well as application in full cell studies.