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A manganese–hydrogen battery with potential for grid-scale energy storage

Nature Energy volume 3, pages 428–435 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Batteries including lithium-ion, lead–acid, redox-flow and liquid-metal batteries show promise for grid-scale storage, but they are still far from meeting the grid's storage needs such as low cost, long cycle life, reliable safety and reasonable energy density for cost and footprint reduction. Here, we report a rechargeable manganese–hydrogen battery, where the cathode is cycled between soluble Mn2+ and solid MnO2 with a two-electron reaction, and the anode is cycled between H2 gas and H2O through well-known catalytic reactions of hydrogen evolution and oxidation. This battery chemistry exhibits a discharge voltage of ~1.3 V, a rate capability of 100 mA cm−2 (36 s of discharge) and a lifetime of more than 10,000 cycles without decay. We achieve a gravimetric energy density of ~139 Wh kg−1 (volumetric energy density of ~210 Wh l−1), with the theoretical gravimetric energy density of ~174 Wh kg−1 (volumetric energy density of ~263 Wh l−1) in a 4 M MnSO4 electrolyte. The manganese–hydrogen battery involves low-cost abundant materials and has the potential to be scaled up for large-scale energy storage.

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Fig. 1: Schematic and simulation of the Mn–H battery.
Fig. 2: Electrochemical performance of the Swagelok-type Mn–H cell.
Fig. 3: Characterization of the cathode in the Mn–H cell.
Fig. 4: Scale-up of the Mn–H cell.

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Acknowledgements

This work was initiated by the support of the Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, under contract DE-AC02-76-SFO0515.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Wei Chen and Guodong Li.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Wei Chen, Guodong Li, Allen Pei, Yuzhang Li, Lei Liao, Hongxia Wang, Jiayu Wan, Zheng Liang, Guangxu Chen, Hao Zhang, Jiangyan Wang & Yi Cui

  2. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchy Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, China

    Guodong Li

  3. Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, USA

    Yi Cui

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  1. Wei Chen
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Contributions

W.C. and Y.C. conceived the idea. W.C. designed the battery cells and conducted the electrochemical measurements. W.C. conducted SEM and XRD characterization. A.P. performed the simulation. Y.L. conducted TEM characterization. H.W. performed the XPS analysis. G.C. helped with the GC measurements. Y.C. supervised the project. W.C. and Y.C. contributed to writing the manuscript. W.C. and G.L. contributed equally to this work. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yi Cui.

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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figures 1–44, Supplementary Notes 1–8, Supplementary Tables 1–2, Supplementary References

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Chen, W., Li, G., Pei, A. et al. A manganese–hydrogen battery with potential for grid-scale energy storage. Nat Energy 3, 428–435 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-018-0147-7

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