Magnetohydrodynamic effects in liquid metal batteries

Liquid metal batteries (LMBs) are a new technology for grid-scale energy storage. They consist of all liquid cells that operate
with liquid metals as electrodes and molten salts as electrolytes. The
liquids separate into three stably stratified layers by virtue of
density and mutual immiscibility (see the two upper left inserts in
Fig.~\ref{fig}a). This conceptually very simple and self-assembling
structure has the unique advantage to allow for an easy scale-up at
the cell level: single-cell cross sections can potentially reach
several square-meters. Such cell sizes enable highly favourable and
otherwise unattainable ratios of active to construction material
because of the cubic scaling (volume) of the former and the quadratic
scaling (surface) of the latter.

The talk will start with a general introduction to LMBs and then focus
on the fluid mechanics in these devices. Electric currents, magnetic fields, and heat
and mass transfer are tightly coupled with the cells'
electrochemistry. First a number of fluid dynamic instabilities will
be discussed in relation to operational safety. The remainder of the
talk will deal with transport phenomena in the positive
electrode. While transport in most modern battery systems is typically
dominated by diffusion and migration in micrometer-scale liquid layers
and solids, convection - with exception of the aforementioned
redox-flow batteries - rarely plays a role. This is in stark contrast
to LMBs were mediated by the fully liquid interior fluid flow can be
driven by various mechanisms. The influence of solutal convection on
the cycling behavior of a cell will be
demonstrated. Electromagnetically induced convection can be used to
improve mixing thereby mitigating diffusion
overpotentials.