The Thermally Regenerative Liquid-Metal Cell

The theory of a new, thermally regenerative, direct‐conversion device is described. The device depends on the reaction of two liquid metals to furnish energy, with subsequent thermal decomposition of the product into the original reactants. As an example, the emf of cells composed of Na / glass / Na ( × ) Sn varied from 0.45–0.38v at temperatures between 500° and 702°C and at mole fractions of Na in the alloy between 0.136 and 0.40. Experiments confirmed theoretical predictions that Na can be distilled from NaSn alloys at temperatures of 1000°–1100°C yielding a relatively pure Na vapor and an approximately 3% (wt) alloy residue.