Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

So I've been doing research on batteries. My main focus is making batteries that don't over heat, last long, and are thin.

I've found this article http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29284934
Basically it's: On the bottom is the very dense mixture of lead and antimony; next comes a "molten salt electrolyte" - effectively table salt, which is liquid at these temperatures; and finally a layer of lithium floats on top. The problem with conducting this experiment is that it requires it to be conducted in 450C and these are pretty dangerous chemicals to handle.

Overall I was wondering what I could do with the concept and apply it to a cell phone battery while being relatively safe to conduct. +

Thanks!

Hi 13pi6radiansNoScope,

The molten metal battery is an intriguing and significant application of electrochemistry. But I agree with you that experimenting with this kind of battery is not feasible without access to specialized equipment and procedures.

If you are interested in electrochemistry there are several kinds of batteries that you could build with readily available materials. None of these battery types work exactly as the molten metal design. But they all have common features like electrodes of dissimilar metals and an electrolyte of some kind.

A few are listed in the “Project Ideas” section of this web site.

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... attery&p=1

And others can be found with a little searching on the web. For example:

http://ncsu.edu/project/chemistrydemos/ ... n%20Cu.pdf

http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Analytical_ ... Electrodes


I hope this helps and good luck with your project. Please post again if you have more questions.

A. Norman