Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 90-92).In order to satisfy the growing demand for renewable resources as a supply of electricity, much effort is being placed toward the development of battery energy storage systems that can effectively interface these new sources with today's electric grid. To be competitive with the prices dictated by the sources currently in use, namely fossil fuels, these new systems must be able to deliver energy at a cost of about 100/kWhfortheactivematerials.Severalbatterysystemshavebeendevelopedandthattargethasbeenslowlycomingintofocus.Theliquidmetalbatteryattemptstoredefinethetypicalstoragesystembymaintainingcomponentsinamoltenstateandseekstodosousingcheap,widelyavailablematerials.OneofthebiggestproblemsfacingthefutureoftheLMBisthatofresourcescarcity.ThereareseveralcandidatematerialsthatcansatisfytheoperatingneedsofanLMB,butnotallareavailableinlargeenoughquantitiestomeetthenewLMBdemandwithoutsignificantimpacttothesupply/demandequilibriumand,ultimately,price.Adetailedmodelwasbuilttoinvestigatetheuseofvariousmetalsinthisnewtechnologyandmeasuretheimpactexpectedasaresultoflarge−scaleLMBadoption.Thereportexplainswhyantimonyisthemostlikelycandidateforthepositiveelectrodeduetoitslarge,maturemarketandtherelativelyhighenergyoutputcomparedtoothercandidates.AlkaliandalkalineearthmaterialsmakeexcellentcandidatesforthenegativeelectrodeandthevastquantitiesavailablewillbemorethanenoughtosupporttheLMBmarketmanytimesover.Theanalysishasalsorevealedasubstantialconcernthatisoftenoverlookedinbatterydevelopment:electrolytecosts.Thecurrentuseofultra−pure,anhydroussaltscannotbesustainediftheLMBistobeprofitableandcompetitive.Largesavingscanbeanticipatedfrompurchasingtonnage−quantitysalts,buttheonlywaytobringthesecostsdowntoreasonablelevelsisthroughtheuseoflower−puritymaterials.ThisstudyshowsthatareasonableLMBcanbebuiltwithanactivematerialscostoflessthan62/kWh and total system cost of around 1,000/kWhfora1MWfacility.Inthemostoptimisticcase,assumingelectrolytecostsonparwiththoseofcurrentbatterytechnologies,thetotalsytemcostcanbereducedtounder300/kWh, much cheaper than many of the most recent technologies.by Michael C. Parent.S.M