Today, people rely heavily on lithium-ion batteries. The demand for lithium batteries and lithium ore is growing, driven by electric vehicles and battery energy storage systems. However, lithium raw materials will eventually run out. Will there be an energy disaster?
Therefore, Purdue University in the United States has set its sights on sodium-ion batteries, which are more abundant in raw materials and cheaper in materials. Recently, they have successfully solved the problem of sodium ion batteries "losing" charge and discharge ions, further improving the stability and capacity of the battery charge and discharge.
In terms of crustal content and cost, sodium is slightly better than lithium ore. Among them, sodium crust content up to 2.6%, content ranked 6th, while lithium is only 27th, if you include the cost, the difference between lithium and sodium is 100 times, lithium is about 15,000 U.S. dollars. USD per metric ton, and sodium is $150. Obviously, sodium is a bigger winner in batteries, but why have sodium ion batteries not been commercialized so far?
Scientists can now control the combustion reaction of sodium in water, but there is still a major hurdle to tackle on the road to commercialization of sodium ion batteries, as sodium ions are easily lost during battery charging and recharging.
Sodium ion batteries operate in the same way as lithium ion batteries. They rely primarily on the movement of sodium ions between the cathode and anode. However, sodium ions tend to attach to the anode during charging and discharging and do not move to the cathode.
This situation is also called solid electrolyte intermediate (SEI). The ions form a thousandth of a millimeter film on the graphite electrode, which protects the carbon particles from harmful reactions with the acidic electrolyte. At the same time, it allows the ions to travel between the electrode and the electrolyte. The occurrence of SEI is not a bad thing, but a SEI film that is too thick can deplete the sodium ions needed for charging, said Vilas Pol, an associate professor of chemical engineering at Purdue.
So Purdue has come up with a solution that, if sodium is made into a powder, would provide the sodium needed to protect the carbon particles for SEI and would not consume the sodium ions needed for charging and discharging.
The study To reduce the contact between sodium and moisture, the team conducted an experiment in a glove box containing the inert gas argon and used ultrasound to melt large amounts of sodium into a liquid similar to grape milk and finally cooled the liquid and suspended it in a hexane solution so that the sodium particles could be evenly distributed in the solution.
The experimental results were also well in line with the scientists' expectations After adding a few drops of the sodium suspension to the anode or cathode, the charge and discharge stability and cell capacity of the sodium ion battery were effectively improved. Ball said that only a few changes to the electrode treatment process can improve battery performance, which is another way to help sodium ion batteries to commercialization.
Although sodium ions are about twice the size of lithium ions, they may not match the weight or energy density of lithium ion batteries, but the technology's lower cost promises to significantly reduce the size of lithium ion batteries. cost of grid-scale battery energy storage systems. Various research institutions are looking forward to the development of sodium ion batteries. Currently, Purdue University has submitted a provisional application for the new technology.
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