A research carried out by researchers at Washington State University and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has led to development of a new sodium-ion battery. The new battery holds as much energy and works as well as chemistries of some commercial lithium-ion batteries. Thus, this makes for a potentially viable battery technology developed out of abundant and cheap materials.
Consequently, this has led to the creation of one of the best sodium-ion battery, reports the team. The battery delivers capacity and successful recharging comparable to some lithium-ion batteries, wherein it saves 80 percent of the charge after 1,000 cycles.
The research is published in the journal ACS Energy Letters.
“The research is a major development for sodium-ion batteries,” stated director of Energy at Office of Electricity, Department of Energy in the US. The capability has displayed great interest of battery manufacturers to replace lithium-ion batteries with sodium-ion ones for many applications.
Expensive and Rare Materials used for Lithium Battery pins need for Alternative
Meanwhile, lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous, which find in use in many applications. This includes laptops, cell phones, and electric vehicles. But lithium-ion batteries are made of materials such as lithium and cobalt that are rare and expensive, and are mostly found outside the US.
As the demand for electric vehicles and electric storage spikes, the availability of these materials will be difficult and would possibly be expensive. For such reasons, lithium-ion batteries would also not be able to keep up with the massive growing demand for power grid energy storage.
Whilst, sodium-ion batteries, made from inexpensive, abundantly available and sustainable sodium from the earth’s crust or oceans could make for a viable option for large-scale energy storage. However, low capacity of energy storage as compared to lithium batteries is a drawback.