#SodiumIonBatteries offer an alternative to tricky #lithium

Oct 26th 2023

Excerpt: "Fortunately, lithium is not the only game in town. As we report this week, a clutch of firms are making batteries based on sodium, lithium’s elemental cousin. Since sodium’s chemical properties are very similar to those of lithium, it too makes for good batteries. And sodium, which is found in the salt in #seawater, is thousands of times more abundant on Earth than lithium and cheaper to get at. Most of the companies using sodium to make batteries today are also Chinese. But pursuing the technology in the West might be a surer route to energy security than relying heavily on lithium.

"Besides its abundance, sodium has other advantages. The best lithium batteries use #cobalt and #nickel in their electrodes. Nickel, like lithium, is in short supply. #Mining it on land is #EnvironmentallyDestructive. Proposals to grab it from the #seabed instead have caused rows. A good deal of the world’s cobalt, meanwhile, is extracted from small mines in the #DemocraticRepublicOfCongo, where #ChildLabour is common and working conditions are dire. Sodium batteries, by contrast, can use #electrodes built from #iron and #manganese [and wood #lignin], which are plentiful and uncontroversial. Since the chemical components are cheap, a scaled-up industry should be able to produce batteries that cost less than their lithium counterparts.

"Sodium is not a perfect replacement for lithium. It is heavier, meaning sodium batteries will weigh more than lithium ones of an equivalent capacity. That is likely to rule them out in some cases where lightness is paramount. But for other applications, such as #GridStorage or #HomeBatteries, weight is irrelevant. Several Chinese carmakers are even beginning to put sodium batteries in #ElectricVehicles."

Read more:
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/10/26/sodium-batteries-offer-an-alternative-to-tricky-lithium

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/7x6JX

#SolarPunkSunday #EnergyStorage #SodiumIon #NewTechnology #GiantLeap #Reuse #WasteReuse #NoLithiumMining #NoMining

Fast-charging #SodiumIon battery uses anodes made from trees

By C.C. Weiss
June 09, 2024

"A month after #NatronEnergy began its first-of-kind sodium-ion battery mass production, Swedish sodium-ion developer #Altris has identified a means of making the LithiumFree batteries even more sustainable. Together with partner #StoraEnso, it's adapting tree pulp-sourced carbon toward use as an anode material.

"A byproduct of wood pulp manufacturing, #lignin has long been investigated for possible use as a more sustainable electrode material. Finnish renewable materials company Stora Enso made headlines in 2022 when it partnered up with Swedish battery manufacturer #Northvolt toward using its proprietary #Lignode material in lithium-ion battery anodes. Stora Enso describes Lignode as a hard carbon material refined from lignin.

"By teaming with Altris, Stora Enso looks to go even more sustainable while further localizing the European battery supply chain. As we looked at when Natron Energy kicked off production a few weeks ago, sodium-ion batteries eliminate the need for rare minerals like lithium, cobalt and nickel, relying on abundant sodium that can be sourced locally without harmful #mining. "

Read more:
https://newatlas.com/energy/wood-based-sodium-ion-battery/

#SolarPunkSunday #EnergyStorage #SodiumIonBatteries #NewTechnology #GiantLeap #Reuse #WasteReuse

Sustainability-inspired cell design for a fully #recyclable #SodiumIon battery

Tiefeng Liu, Yaping Zhang, Chao Chen, Zhan Lin, Shanqing Zhang , Jun Lu

Nature Communications, 2019 Apr 29

"Effective #recycling technologies represent a solution to the #sustainability and environmental consequences of spent #RechargeableBatteries . Here, the authors show a bipolar electrode design that allows not only good electrochemical performance but a closed loop of material use for sodium ion batteries."

Read more:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6488666/

#SolarPunkSunday #Reuse #SodiumIonBatteries #NewTechnology
#GiantLeap #EWaste #EWasteRecycling #EWasteReuse

New method converts old phones and paper industry #waste into #GreenBattery tech

Scientists have created a sustainable, cost-effective, and highly efficient solution that promotes a #CircularEconomy while supporting the transition to greener #EnergyStorage.

By
Mrigakshi Dixit
Feb 20, 2026 06:59 AM EST

"A new sustainable method turns discarded #MobilePhoneBatteries and industrial lignin into a powerhouse material for #SodiumIon batteries.

"It is a stunning example of circular economy innovation. Rather than letting these materials sit in #landfills or go up in smoke, the team from China is giving the waste a high-tech second life.

"When tested as a sodium-ion battery anode, this composite of #nickel-#cobalt sulfides and #lignin-derived carbon delivered electrochemical results."

Read more:
https://interestingengineering.com/energy/battery-material-from-old-phone-batteries

#SolarPunkSunday #CellPhoneBatteries #Reuse #SodiumIonBatteries #NewTechnology #GiantLeap #EWaste #EWasteRecycling #EWasteReuse

Good read about #sodiumion #batteries

Probably not good for #evs but maybe for #battery #energy storage systems.

#lithium #sodium #chemistry #renewables

https://www.livescience.com/technology/electric-vehicles/sodium-ion-batteries-are-getting-ready-for-prime-time-how-can-they-improve-evs

Here is a fantastic video on the future of sodium battery tech by Just Have A Think on YT. It shows that we have already the tools to make safe mobile batteries work. All it took was lateral thinking and solid engineering.

#electricvehicles #sodiumion #battery #EV

https://youtu.be/B0wl5wFZdb4?si=h9mfwx-6stbr4-7P

New #SodiumIon battery stores twice the energy and #desalinates #seawater

Date: February 19, 2026
Source: University of Surrey

Summary: A surprising breakthrough could help sodium-ion batteries rival lithium—and even turn seawater into drinking water. Scientists discovered that keeping water inside a key battery material, instead of removing it as traditionally done, dramatically boosts performance. The “wet” version stores nearly twice as much charge, charges faster, and remains stable for hundreds of cycles, placing it among the top-performing sodium battery materials ever reported.

"In research published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A, scientists examined sodium vanadium oxide, a well-known sodium-based compound. They discovered that allowing the material to retain its natural water content significantly enhances how it functions inside a battery.

"The compound, called nanostructured sodium vanadate hydrate (#NVOH), delivered far stronger results when used in its hydrated form. It stored substantially more energy, charged at a faster rate, and maintained stability for more than 400 charge cycles.

"During testing, the hydrated version held nearly twice as much charge as standard sodium-ion cathode materials. This performance places it among the top cathodes reported so far for sodium-ion batteries.

"Dr. Daniel Commandeur, Research Fellow at the University of Surrey School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, and lead author of the paper, said: 'Our results were completely unexpected. Sodium vanadium oxide has been around for years, and people usually heat-treat it to remove the water because it's thought to cause problems. We decided to challenge that assumption, and the outcome was far better than we anticipated. The material showed much stronger performance and stability than expected and could even create exciting new possibilities for how these batteries are used in the future.'

#Seawater Operation and Electrochemical #Desalination

"The team also explored how the material performed in salt water, an especially demanding environment for battery systems. Not only did it continue operating effectively, it also removed sodium ions from the saltwater solution. At the same time, a graphite electrode extracted chloride ions in a process known as electrochemical desalination.

"Dr. Commandeur added: 'Being able to use sodium vanadate hydrate in salt water is a really exciting discovery, as it shows sodium-ion batteries could do more than just store energy -- they could also help remove salt from water. In the long term, that means we might be able to design systems that use seawater as a completely safe, free and abundant electrolyte, while also producing #FreshWater as part of the process.' "

Read more:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260218031603.htm

#SolarPunkSunday #GiantLeap #GiantLeapScenario #TechnologicalBreakthrough #LtG #Technology #SodiumIonBatteries

The world’s first #EV with a #SodiumIon battery has landed – and it beats traditional #lithium batteries in one key way

By Leon Poultney, published February 9, 2026

Cheaper sodium-ion batteries are rapidly becoming a reality

Excerpt: "The battery technology, which has been developed by CATL (arguably the world’s largest manufacturer of EV batteries), has just finished winter testing in Inner Mongolia, where temperatures regularly drop well below what most EVs are designed to handle.

"According to Gizmochina, the Nevo A06 was able to charge without issue at around -30°C (-22°F) and continued operating at temperatures as low as -50°C (-58°F)."

https://www.techradar.com/vehicle-tech/hybrid-electric-vehicles/the-worlds-first-ev-with-a-sodium-ion-battery-has-landed-and-it-beats-traditional-lithium-batteries-in-one-key-way

#SolarPunkSunday #SodiumIonBatteries #BrineBatteries

RE: https://kolektiva.social/@DoomsdaysCW/111502669919741487

Tagging for #SolarPunkSunday! There has been progress made with regards to #SodiumIon batteries!