https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Solar-Energy/A-Serious-Contender-To-Lithium-Ion-Batteries.html
[links in online article]
A Serious Contender To Lithium-Ion Batteries
By Irina Slav - Jul 29, 2019, 2:00 PM CDT
Sodium batteries are among the more advanced challengers to lithium ion
dominance but, like other alternatives to Li-ion batteries, they have
been plagued by persistent problems with their performance. Now, a team
of South Korean scientists have reported an improvement that could bring
sodium batteries into the spotlight.
The team reports in a study published in Advanced Science that they had
made an electrode for their sodium battery of copper sulfide and that
the compound had displayed superior properties in terms of durability.
Based on the findings, the researchers say a sodium battery with copper
sulfide electrodes could last for as long as five years if charged once
daily.
This is obviously early days. Five years is not so long, and the
once-a-day charging condition is quite limiting. Yet there is clearly an
international drive to advance sodium batteries as an alternative to
lithium ion ones.
The allure of sodium—cheap, abundant, and the right chemistry for
batteries—has been growing, and there are already functioning projects.
Last year, scientists from the Australian University of Wollongong
announced that they had solved one problem with sodium batteries that
had made them too expensive to produce: namely the materials. Some of
these materials were sensitive to air, which made it challenging to
produce the batteries cheaply enough to make them commercially viable
and guarantee a certain level of performance.
This year, researchers from the Nagoya Institute of Technology in Japan
said they’d found a way around the main obstacle for swapping lithium
with sodium: the larger size of the ions in sodium and its different
chemistry. They did this by finding a sodium compound that displayed a
crystal structure that was compatible with battery use, along with a
favorable electric structure and electrochemical properties. The
compound yielded shorter charging times than lithium-ion batteries and a
potentially longer battery life.
Meanwhile, other areas of research are yielding results that could be
used across battery types. One such area is electrode coating, where
German scientists in June announced a promising breakthrough. They
developed a new coating process that coats electrodes with dry film
rather than a liquid. Seemingly insignificant, the process is much less
energy-intensive than the liquid coating one, and it does not involve
toxic solvents. Ultimately, it’s better than the standard coating
process, and it’s cheaper.
Cost is the number-one problem with batteries. They are the most
expensive component of an electric vehicle and as such, the biggest
obstacle to mass adoption of EVs. Getting the cost down is tricky:
drivers want longer ranges and longer productive lives from their car
batteries, and that goes counter to most standard cost-cutting tactics.
So, battery researchers are looking for new ways to reduce battery
costs, whether by replacing one key element with another, as in the case
of swapping sodium for lithium and copper sulphide for other chemicals,
or improving other parts of the battery manufacturing process such as
electrode coating.
It’s worth noting, however, that most battery-related breakthroughs in
the news are reported from the lab, and despite assurances that the
technology is potentially scalable, few have been actually tested.
According to the Korean scientists that revealed the superior properties
of copper sulphide as electrode material, their discovery would bring
sodium batteries a step closer to scalability: the ultimate test for
success.
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