“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 form of chemistry in a gasoline cell as a substitute is new.
“One of many important points with such a cell idea is the security problem,” Janek says. Sodium steel reacts very strongly with water. (You could have seen movies the place blocks of sodium steel get thrown right into a lake, to dramatic impact). Requested about this problem, 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 stable electrolyte, a ceramic materials, additionally helps stop reactions between water and sodium, Chiang provides.
One other query is what occurs to one of many cell’s merchandise, sodium hydroxide. Generally generally known as lye, it is an industrial chemical, utilized in merchandise like liquid drain-cleaning resolution. One of many researchers’ recommendations is to dilute the product and launch it into the ambiance or ocean, the place it could react with carbon dioxide, capturing it in a steady kind and stopping it from contributing to international warming. There are teams pursuing area trials utilizing this precise chemical for ocean-based carbon removing, 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 components working in favor of sodium-based programs, although it could take some work to construct up the required provide chains. At the moment, sodium steel isn’t produced at very excessive volumes. Nonetheless, it may be constructed from 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 constructing leaded gasoline. So there’s a precedent for a bigger provide chain, and it’s attainable that scaling up manufacturing of sodium steel would make it low cost sufficient to make use of in gasoline cell programs, Chiang says.
Chiang has cofounded an organization referred to as Propel Aero to commercialize the analysis. The undertaking obtained 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 subsequent step is to proceed analysis to enhance the cells’ efficiency and power density, and to begin designing small-scale programs. One potential early software is drones. “We’d prefer to make one thing fly inside the subsequent 12 months,” Chiang says.
“If folks don’t discover it loopy, I’ll be moderately dissatisfied,” Chiang says. “As a result of if an thought doesn’t sound loopy firstly, it in all probability isn’t as revolutionary as you assume. Thankfully, most individuals assume I’m loopy on this one.”
