ORNL and Coulomb advance seawater battery storage

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has announced progress on a new seawater battery formulation for grid energy storage, developed with industry partner Coulomb Technology.

• ORNL researchers found that adding 5% more bleach shifts the battery toward a chlorine-bleach reaction, more than doubling peak power and making voltage comparable with lithium-ion batteries.
• The work was carried out with Coulomb Technology, which said the battery could serve longer-duration utility or large data center applications; the project was funded by DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technology Office through its Technology Commercialization Fund.