The urgent need to decarbonize the electric grid and integrate renewable energy technologies has created unprecedented growth in the demand for large-capacity energy storage. While storage markets are diverse and need solutions with varying characteristics, a common thread is that the cost of electricity storage must be low enough to displace more carbon-intensive methods of ensuring grid stability, like natural gas peaker plants1–3. This cost constraint has thus featured prominently in the recent development of liquid metal batteries (LMBs) made from earth-abundant materials, which display reliable performance and high current capabilities due to fast liquid-liquid kinetics4–7. For example, a Li||Sb-Pb(l) LMB achieved a specific capacity of 171 mAh g-1 and an electrode cost of 65 $/kWh, while successfully demonstrating a long life span with negligible capacity fade at 500 °C5. Even as Li-ion battery (LIB) technology has advanced in recent years leading to lower electrode costs (70–250 $/kWh)8–10, the low-cost floor of LMB chemistries suggests that they could be a cost-effective contributor to stationary energy storage markets.
Even among LMBs, those with calcium-based anodes stand out because low-cost, earth-abundant Ca can be paired with several viable cathode materials2,4,11,12. Bradwell, and then Ouchi, et al. first demonstrated the feasibility of Ca-based LMBs using a Ca-Mg||Bi(l) cell at 550 °C. However, the use of costly Bi metal and the reported low capacity (90 mAh g-1 Bi) resulted in a high energy cost of ~144 $/kWh6,12. The Ca||Sb couple has been considered one of the most cost-effective electrode pairs since the inception of the LMB due to the high cell voltage (~1.0 V) and low cost of Ca and Sb metals12,13. Unfortunately, the promise of a Ca||Sb cell has not previously been realized due to the constraint of a liquid cathode in traditional LMBs, which necessitates an operating temperature of ~700 °C based on the melting point of Sb (Tm, Sb = 631 °C). Furthermore, the limited solubility of Ca in liquid Sb (~25 at% Ca) results in a low specific capacity (136 mAh g-1 Sb) and a relatively high projected electrode cost of 90 $/kWh13.
We present a paradigm shift by pairing a Ca-based liquid metal anode with a solid Sb cathode to achieve unprecedented capacity and low energy cost in a LMB. While it might be assumed that the relative slowness of diffusion in a solid electrode could reduce battery performance compared to a liquid electrode, the features observed and described herein for the Ca||Sb(s) system circumvent this logic. This battery operates at ~520 °C in a eutectic CaCl2-LiCl electrolyte (35-65 mol%, or 58.5-41.5 wt%, Tm = 485 °C)14 which was chosen to allow direct comparison of cycling performance with prior studies of Ca-based LMBs. Figure 1a displays the discharge potential of an Sb electrode (vs. Ca metal) starting from monolithic Sb under constant current (25 mA), showing that a high, useful potential is maintained to a specific capacity beyond 700 mAh g‑1 Sb. Post-mortem analysis of Sb electrodes at various stages of discharge indicates that the initial bulk Sb loaded transforms into fine particles with cycling (Figure 1b). Chemical analysis of the products at 160 mAh g-1 Sb suggests that the cathode is fragmenting due to volume expansion from the progressive formation of Ca-Sb compounds, including CaSb2 and Ca11Sb10. We postulate that the high capacity achieved here is due to the fragmentation of Sb which increases surface area and generates short mass transport pathways which allow operation beyond the typical kinetic limitations of solids.
Furthermore, Figure 1c is a scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of the cathode of a Ca||Sb(s) cell stopped in a fully charged state after ~1100 cycles and ~12000 hours of run time. The morphology of the Sb cathode in this state of charge, consisting of a porous network of micron-scale particles, was preserved by repeatedly immersing the electrode in clean water to remove the electrolyte with minimal agitation. As the operating temperature of the battery is an appreciable fraction of the melting point of antimony, there is likely an ongoing balance between cathode particle fragmentation and sintering over the course of cycling that spontaneously produces this interconnected structure. The self-assembly of a networked Sb electrode structure is likely to increase the electronic connectivity of the electrode to help achieve practical high capacity operation.
[Figure 1]
The equilibrium potential (Eeq) of a particulate Sb electrode during discharge is displayed in Figure 1d as a function of capacity and mole fraction (xCa). These data are obtained from the steady open-circuit potential achieved following sequential coulometric titration at a constant current (20 mA). The particulate Sb electrode demonstrated a useful specific capacity as high as 738 mAh g-1 Sb by sustaining a high potential (Eeq > 0.87 V) until relatively deep states of discharge (xCa = 0.63), far surpassing the solubility-limited capacity of the Ca||Sb(l) couple even at higher temperatures, i.e., 136 mAh g-1 Sb at 700 °C13. The high capacity achieved using particulate Sb electrodes is corroborated by electromotive force (emf) measurements of binary Ca-Sb alloys in two-phase regions, as carried out in previous works using a solid CaF2 electrolyte15 and in this work using a eutectic CaCl2-LiCl liquid electrolyte (Figure 1e), which indicates a thermodynamically limited specific capacity of 733 mAh g-1 Sb (or 62.5 at% Ca in Sb). Despite the close agreement of the specific capacities determined from the measurement of Eeq through coulometric titration and the emf of binary Ca-Sb alloys, there is a deviation between Eeq and the emf of the binary alloys above 320 mAh g-1 Sb (Figure 1d), which can be explained by phase analysis of the electrode as summarized in Figure 2 and discussed further below.
[Figure 2]
To observe practical cycling performance compared to the emf measurements discussed above and provide larger cathode samples for detailed analysis, a 3-electrode electrochemical cell was constructed for the Ca||Sb(s) system. Figure 2a–2b displays cycling performance for a particulate Sb electrode held in a stainless steel (SS) crucible subjected to constant currents equivalent to C-rates of C/20–1C (based on a theoretical capacity of 733 mAh g-1 Sb) and corresponding to current densities of 50–1000 mA cm-2 (based on the macroscopic area of the exposed cathode surface). This current density is far greater than that typically demonstrated in room temperature Li-ion batteries (<10 mA cm-2)16, consistent with the generally facile kinetics in LMBs. The achieved discharge capacity was more than 659 mAh g-1 Sb (>90% of theoretical capacity) at C/20–C/2 rates and was about 400 mAh g‑1 Sb at the highest 1C rate, demonstrating a far greater specific capacity for Ca||Sb(s) at 520 °C than the Ca||Sb(l) couple at 700 °C (<136 mAh g-1 Sb) or advanced LIBs (<250 mAh g‑1)13,17. The Sb electrode performance in this cell was reliable with negligible capacity loss over 50 cycles (>30 days) and high round-trip coulombic efficiencies (>99.4%) during steady state operation at 90–100% of the theoretical capacity. At practical daily cycle rates (C/8–C/10), the calculated energy efficiency is 79–84%, demonstrating utility for grid-scale energy storage when coupled with intermittent renewable energy technologies.
The characterization of cathode products, following 10 cycles with various discharge depths at C/6, reveals the dynamic phase evolution of the Sb(s) electrode as summarized in Figure 2c. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicates the formation of [Sb + CaSb2] compounds at 168 mAh g-1 Sb and [CaSb2 + Ca11Sb10] at 312 mAh g-1 Sb, in agreement with the known equilibrium phase behavior of the binary Ca-Sb system15. Interestingly, at later stages of discharge, the presence of a ternary LiCaSb compound was evident: [Ca11Sb10 + LiCaSb] at 672 mAh g-1 Sb and [LiCaSb + Ca2Sb] at the full depth of discharge (734 mAh g-1 Sb). The formation of the LiCaSb compound implies an electrode reaction in which Ca and Li are co-deposited without an associated decrease in electrode potential, particularly at later stages of discharge (>320 mAh g-1 Sb). The formation of LiCaSb explains the deviation of Eeq from the emf of binary Ca-Sb alloys as shown in Figure 1d.
[Figure 3]
Figure 3a schematically illustrates a Ca | CaCl2-LiCl | Sb(s) battery constructed to demonstrate practical implementation of this system. Pure Ca metal was pre-embedded in an iron foam current collector by wetting the foam in molten Ca. The cycling performance of the Ca||Sb(s) battery was evaluated at 520 °C using a C/2 current rate, shown in Figure 3b–3c. The Ca||Sb(s) battery consistently achieved a high average discharge capacity of 715 mAh g-1 Sb (97% of the theoretical capacity) with no indication of capacity loss over 100 cycles (16 days) with high coulombic (98.4%) and energy (86%) efficiencies. Based on battery performance and the cost of electrode materials, the energy cost and energy density of the Ca||Sb(s) battery are estimated at 15.5 $/kWh and 620 Wh/kg, outperforming those of prior LMBs (65 $/kWh and 194 Wh/kg)5,7,18,19 by fully utilizing the low-cost particulate Sb cathode up to the thermodynamic limit.
[Figure 4]
Historically, the use of Ca metal in molten salt electrolytes has presented unpleasant challenges due to its high reactivity and solubility in molten salts, which typically leads to poor coulombic efficiency (< 82%) and rapid cell degradation20,21. Furthermore, cell operation at 520 °C, below the melting point of calcium, introduces the possibility of dendritic growth of solid Ca during charging which may result in a short circuit between electrodes or unstable voltage. We report that the excellent cycling performance and absence of erratic behavior observed for this Ca||Sb(s) battery can be attributed to spontaneous formation of a Ca-Li alloy at the anode. Figure 4a displays a post-mortem image of a fully charged anode after 100 cycles, showing sound retention of anode materials within the foam current collector. Chemical analysis by ICP-AES in Table 1 confirms that the anode material is a binary Ca-Li (~41 at%, or 11 wt% Li) alloy, corroborated by the presence of both Ca(s) and Li2Ca phases from XRD analysis (Figure 4b) and a hypo-eutectic microstructure (L ® L + Ca ® Ca + Li2Ca) as observed via SEM (Figure 4c)22. Notably, the formation of this binary Ca-Li alloy means that the anode is liquid during operation, which eliminates the chance of solid dendrite growth and reduces the chemical reactivity of Ca. Furthermore, the liquid Ca-Li alloy exhibited remarkably low overpotentials (<10 mV) owing to facile liquid-liquid interfacial reactions and rapid mass transport during cycling at various currents (15–150 mA), as displayed in Figure 4d.
[Figure 5]
As further evidence for the cycling stability achievable with the Ca||Sb(s) chemistry, Figure 5 shows discharge capacity data from a battery over ~4000 cycles and 9 months. This cell was primarily cycled across its full voltage range (0.6–1.2 V) at a nominal rate of 1C. After an initial set of conditioning cycles, the cell was run under quasi-steady state conditions. Notwithstanding some minor discontinuities in the test data due to an unexpected power outage (partial cool-down), no net capacity fade is observed even after a number of cycles equivalent to over a decade of daily cycling. The increase in steady-state capacity observed after the period of deeper discharge cycles (black square symbol), in which the cell voltage was floated at 0.6 V for 0.5 h in a fully discharged state, further supports the hypothesis that increasing cathode fragmentation increases accessible cell capacity.
In conclusion, we demonstrate that the unprecedented high capacity of the Ca||Sb(s) couple in a molten CaCl2-LiCl electrolyte is enabled by spontaneous fragmentation of Sb during cycling, the self-assembly of a porous, electronically conductive cathode network, and the formation of a ternary LiCaSb compound without a corresponding loss in cell voltage. Furthermore, in this electrolyte, the formation of a liquid Ca-Li alloy anode allows for rapid electrode kinetics and stable cycling. While the high fraction of LiCl in the electrolyte, which is considerably more expensive than CaCl2 and other common chloride salts, provides an opportunity to further reduce system costs by minimizing the use of LiCl, these new findings allowed the successful construction and operation of high-capacity Ca||Sb(s) batteries with high efficiency, excellent cycle life, and a strong potential to be cost-effective at scale. These results are a foundation for continued development of this system to advance its potential for implementation as an energy storage system as part of a decarbonized electrical grid.