AlkaliBattery as world storage system

In order to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Convention, a global transition to renewable energies is necessary. However, solar or wind energy does not constantly supply electricity, so that energy storage systems are an important component of the global energy transformation. To promote breakthrough innovations in the field of energy, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has announced a pilot innovation competition in which a so-called "world storage system" is to be developed. Within the framework of this competition, the "AlkaliBattery" project, a co-operation of the high temperature materials and the electrochemistry groups, is investigating a potential solution based on a new, highly innovative reaction chemistry.

The redox system, which has not been described before, has an exceptionally high energy density and consists of a mixture of harmless, environmentally friendly and inexpensively producible inorganic salts such as sodium hydroxide and sodium nitrate and nitrite (curing salt) as well as sodium metal. With this so-called AlkaliBattery, a household storage of 10 kWh over an operating period of 10 years is to be implemented in a refrigerator-sized version. In combination with photovoltaics or wind energy, energy supply at an appropriate rate even in remote areas of the world will be possible.

In the interdisciplinary research project, combining the expertise of the high temperature materials and the electrochemistry groups, first fundamental questions will be investigated. The tasks in this project are i) to find suitable and cost-effective construction materials which are resistant to corrosion attacks of the molten salt, ii) to investigate the reaction equilibria of the molten salt, iii) to prove the reversibility and the characteristics of the redox reaction experimentally in an electrochemical cell and to further develop it with regard to a prototype, iv) to further develop the solution idea and to estimate the costs and the economic efficiency on the basis of the experimental results.