Sodium batteries are set to become a vital component of energy systems, providing much of lithium’s power without the high price and environmental costs.
Sodium Batteries: The Future of Energy
US researchers have developed a solid-state, anode-free sodium battery that promises higher safety and lower costs than traditional batteries. “Although there have been previous sodium, solid-state, and anode-free batteries, no one has been able to successfully combine these three ideas until now,” says Grayson Deysher, a PhD candidate at the University of California – San Diego, and first author of a paper published in Nature Energy.
Key Features and Benefits
This pioneering battery can be charged and discharged for 400 cycles without degrading. Deysher, along with senior author Professor Ying Shirley Meng from the University of Chicago, has filed a patent application for this innovation.
Batteries usually contain an anode, which supplies electrons, and a cathode, which accepts them. The electron flow from anode to cathode through a circuit creates electricity. Batteries also need current collectors to connect the anode and cathode with outer circuits, and electrolytes to allow charged particles to flow through the battery’s interior.
It’s possible to make a battery without an anode by storing charged particles directly on a current collector. This design theoretically makes a battery cheaper and more energy-dense, as it contains fewer materials. However, it’s challenging to achieve in practice.
Innovative Design Approach
“In any anode-free battery, there needs to be good contact between the electrolyte and the current collector,” says Deysher. “This is typically very easy when using a liquid electrolyte, as the liquid can flow everywhere and wet every surface. A solid electrolyte cannot do this.”
Anode-free batteries with liquid electrolytes tend to be short-lived because the liquid reacts with other battery components and solidifies. The research team resolved this issue by using a current collector made from aluminium powder, which could flow around a solid electrolyte during battery assembly.
Achieving Stability with Innovation
This innovation produced a stable, solid-state sodium battery without an anode. “Sodium solid-state batteries are usually seen as a far-off-in-the-future technology, but we hope this paper can invigorate more push into the sodium area by demonstrating that it can indeed work well, even better than the lithium version in some cases,” says Deysher.
The success of this solid-state sodium battery marks a significant advancement in energy technology. It offers a promising alternative to lithium batteries, balancing cost, safety, and performance. The breakthrough demonstrates that sodium batteries can indeed be a practical and efficient solution for future energy systems.
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