Introducing the Hydrogen–Thorium Battery: A Rare Earth-Linked Energy Breakthrough Developed through pioneering research by Professor Animesh Jha at the University of Leeds, and commercialised by the academic spinout Silex World Ltd, the Hydrogen–Thorium Battery represents a transformative opportunity in long-duration energy storage.

 

Just one 10 m³ modular unit — the size of a shipping container or small house — can store 100 tonnes of hydrogen, equivalent to 3.3 GWh of dispatchable electricity. That’s on par with a large coal-fired power plant or 10x the storage of China’s $2.3B Huanghe Solar Park, and rivals major hydroelectric facilities like Bath County Dam, the world’s 35th largest.

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This revolutionary energy storage system operates via low-temperature hydrogen adsorption and release (≈200°C), using thorium as a key material. While thorium has historically been overlooked, mass production from low-grade titanium dioxide — which also yields 3–5% rare earth element co-products — opens new supply chain pathways. In this context, thorium becomes a strategically valuable enabler, especially as the entire system is fully shielded, with radiation levels 1,000 times lower than uranium. The Hydrogen–Thorium Battery has minimal geographic or geological constraints, making it ideal for grid-scale deployment globally.

 

Silex World invites industrial partners, clean energy investors, and strategic materials stakeholders to collaborate in taking this technology from benchtop to pilot scale, and ultimately to grid infrastructure integration. This is a rare opportunity to be at the forefront of a rare earth-enabled, zero-carbon storage innovation with unmatched scalability