---
title: "MIT Accidentally Discovered A New Way To Make Metal"
description: "Trying to find better liquid battery chemistry, MIT researchers discover a smelting process that could separate nearly pure transition metals from their ores, without the harmful byproducts of typical smelting."
date: "2016-08-25"
modified: "2016-11-29"
authors:
  - name: "Jelor Gallego"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jelor-gallego"
url: "https://futurism.com/mit-accidentally-discovered-a-new-way-to-make-metal"
categories:
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "liquid batteries"
  - "mit"
  - "smelting"
---

# MIT Accidentally Discovered A New Way To Make Metal

![Default Futurism featured image](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Futurism-Filler-Image.jpg>)

Creating better [liquid batteries](<https://futurism.com/new-way-create-super-efficient-liquid-batteries>) has many enormous benefits, especially to the promising field of renewable energy storage. That's why a lot of research goes into the area, which also might often mean some *failed* research. But as we will see, even failure has its upsides.

In the quest for a more efficient liquid battery, MIT researchers have been able to discover a [new and better method](<https://www.engadget.com/2016/08/24/mit-accidentally-discovered-a-cleaner-smelting-process/>) for metal smelting, one not as environmentally taxing as current methods.

In their study, published in [*Nature Communications*](<http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2016/160824/ncomms12584/full/ncomms12584.html>), the researchers were fiddling with the electrochemistry of liquid batteries, looking at placing a second electrolyte between the positive and negative electrodes.

![Courtesy of the researchers](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/MIT-Smelting-01.jpg>)
*Image Credit: Yin, et al./*Nature Communications**

When they powered up this setup, instead of charging the battery, electrolysis occurred, purifying the antimony sulfide being used. The addition of a good ionic conductor on top of the antimony sulfide allowed electrolysis, creating a pool of 99.9% pure antimony.

While antimony was the metal "smelted," the researchers predict other metals, like copper, could undergo the same process with much less environmental cost than established methods.