Phonlamai Photo/Shutterstock The Institute of Metal Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has unveiled an "all-iron" flow battery that can last for 16 years. Like other flow batteries, this new invention uses liquid electrolytes that release electricity when pumped over electrodes during charge or discharge. Because China's new battery is "all-iron," even going so far as to include a newly-engineered iron molecular complex, it is extremely inexpensive to manufacture — 80 times cheaper than a lithium battery, in fact. China's nuclear batteries proved that the country is a leader of energy innovation, and a Chinese thermal battery breakthrough involving high-efficiency cathodes recently made waves as well. What sets this latest discovery apart is that it may be put to use very soon. China's all-iron flow battery has a reliable design that protects the core from chemical damage while its negative charge repels leaking particles. It already achieved a 99.4% leak-proof efficiency in practical testing.…