Silbat is a deep tech startup founded in 2019 for the development, production, and marketing of a disruptive electricity storage solution based on the latent heat of metal-grade silicon and its back-conversion to electricity using thermophotovoltaics.
In a nutshell, our melting silicon battery consists of a high-temperature furnace containing a vessel filled with metal-grade silicon. Electricity ingress into the battery is converted into heat utilizing the Joule effect that drives the Si up to its melting point (~1410C), where solid and liquid phases will coalesce, thus turning electrical energy into thermal energy for its storage. Electricity can then be partially recovered from the radiation emitted by the incandescent melting silicon through thermophotovoltaic modules tuned to the spectrum of this radiating source.
Nowadays, Pumped Hydro Systems (PHS) represent 97% of the electricity storage installed capacity; it is the most cost-effective and mature technology, BUT it is location constrained. According to our projections, our Melting Silicon Battery, based on the 2nd most abundant material on the Earth's crust, has the potential to improve PHS's costs by at least 3X while being is modular and portable.
Pioneering fundamental research begins at IES-UPM in 2011 and receives a central thrust from European Commission H2020 funded project AMADEUS (2017-2019). Silbat is created in agreement with IES-UPM to turn this research into a marketable product.
