A sealant problem has scuppered hopes of a US start-up commercialising a new type of grid-scale battery.
Scientists at the Cambridge, Massachussetts-based Ambri failed to make the battery cell, which uses two liquid metals as electrodes and a salt electrolyte, work effectively. The type of metals used remains undisclosed.
The liquid metal electrodes are housed inside steel cans and must be hermetically sealed — but CEO Phil Guidice said problem had occured with the seals that keep the liquid electrodes enclosed.
The company, which opened in 2011, has been working for two years on trying to solve the sealant issue, but summer tests indicated the seals had not come up to scratch.
Ambri has reportedly laid off a quarter of its staff and commercial deployment has been pushed back indefinitely.
Back in 2013 the company raised a $35 million series-C round to fund the production of prototype batteries from an existing factory and finance construction of a commercial-scale plant.
Over the past few years investors have backed companies such as Ambri, Aquion, and Seeo, companies which work on new chemistries, including flow batteries, solid lithium polymers, and aqueous-ion materials. To date none have succeeded in commercialising a new battery to succeed lithium-ion in storing renewable energy.
