Will sodium ion battery replace lithium-ion batteries in the future?

Will sodium ion battery replace lithium-ion batteries in the future?

2017-10-13

Lithium-ion battery has been invented for decades, because of high specific energy, high voltage, high efficiency, no self-discharge, no memory effect and many other advantages, it has become the first choice of all industries. However, electrode material resources (lithium) will face a shortage in the future. In order to solve this problem, scientists turn their focus to sodium—the second light metal element on the earth, and use it in the field of energy storage technology. Will sodium ion battery replace the lithium-ion battery in the future?

Working principle of sodium ion battery

The working principle of sodium ion battery is similar to lithium-ion battery, it achieves charge and discharge process by the embedded process of sodium ions between positive and negative. In the case of normal charge and discharge process, the basic chemical structure of the electrode material are not destroyed by the insertion of sodium ions between the positive and negative electrodes.

Compared with lithium-ion batteries, sodium ion batteries have the following advantages:

First, compared with lithium, sodium has similar physical and chemical properties, and abundant reserves, low prices;

Second, in principle, the charging time of sodium ion battery can be shortened to 1/5 that of lithium-ion battery;

Third, the characteristics of sodium salt allow the use of low concentrations of electrolyte, which can reduce costs;

Fourth, sodium ions do not form alloy with aluminum, aluminum foil can be used for the cathode as a collector, which can reduce costs and battery weight.

In this two years, sodium ion batteries have attracted more attentions in the industry:

In April 2016, researchers from Suzhou University and the German Planck Solid State Research Institute developed sulfur-doped TiO2 nanotube arrays, which can greatly improve the electronic conductivity;

In August 2016, researchers from Peking University synthesized a new type of metal sulfide anode material SnSSe, showing excellent cycle performance and magnification performance;

In February 2017, researchers at the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences used a low cost anthracite to obtain a carbon anode material with excellent storage capacity by simple pulverization and one-step carbonization;

October 2017, researchers from Stanford University newly developed sodium ion battery, which can store equivalent of energy with lithium-ion battery by only 80% cost.

In addition to the above study, many scientists explored and made the corresponding progress in the sodium ion battery cathode and anode materials in 2017. The study of sodium ion batteries is proceeding in full swing.

The prospects of sodium ion battery

As a kind of important energy storage batteries, sodium ion batteries have the advantages of high specific energy, good safety performance, and low price, etc., it is expected to become a substitute for lithium-ion battery in the field of energy storage. The most important feature is the use of Na+ instead of the expensive Li+, and in order to adapt to sodium ions, the cathode material, anode materials, electrolytes and even additives (such as T3P, hexanetriazole) have to make corresponding changes. Therefore, there are still many problems to be solved to achieve the target of large-scale, high security, low cost, high energy, high power density and long life, in order to achieve the industrialization of sodium ion batteries.

Edited by Suzhou Yacoo Science Co., Ltd.

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