India’s planetary missions like Mars Mission may soon be able to reduce payload mass and launch costs with the help of an indigenously developed Metal- CO2 battery with CO2 as an Energy Carrier.

Try this PYQ:

Q.Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles produce one of the following as “exhaust”:

(a) NH3

(b) CH4

(c) H2O

(d) H2O2

Metal CO2 Battery

• An IIT professor recently demonstrated the technical feasibility of Lithium- CO₂ battery in simulated Mars atmosphere for the first time.
• The development of Metal-CO₂ batteries will provide highly specific energy density with the reduction in mass and volume, which will reduce payload mass and launch cost of planetary missions.
• Metal-CO₂ batteries have a great potential to offer significantly high energy density than the currently used Li-ion batteries.
• They provide a useful solution to fix CO₂ emissions, which is better than energy-intensive traditional CO₂ fixation methods.

It’s working

• A primary Li-CO2 battery uses pure carbon dioxide as a cathode.
• According to chemical knowledge, Lithium metal can react with CO2 to form lithium oxalate at room temperature.
• While at high temperatures, lithium oxalate decomposes to form lithium carbonate and carbon monoxide gas.

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