Corrosion Behavior of Surface Treated Steel in Liquid Sodium Negative Electrode of Liquid Metal Battery

Abstract

While liquid metal batteries are attractive options for grid-scale energy storage applications as they have flexible siting capacities and small footprints, the compatibility between structural materials such as current collectors and negative electrode such as sodium is one of major issues for liquid metal batteries. Non-metallic elements such as carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen in the liquid sodium influence the material behaviors of the cell construction materials in the battery system. In this study, the compatibility of structural materials with sodium is investigated in high temperature liquid sodium, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is used to monitor in-situ the corrosion behavior at the surface of materials in sodium. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) coatings of SiC and Si3N4 are applied as protective barriers against dissolution and corrosion on the steel surface. The results show that CVD coating of Si compounds can delay corrosion of steel in high temperature liquid sodium comparing to the result of as-received specimens, while SiC coating is more durable than Si3N4 coating in high temperature liquid sodium.