Bayreuth researchers are working on an affordable replacement for lithium-ion batteries
"In the long term, the results of our research can make mid-range electric vehicles more affordable"
Dr Qingsong Wang from the University of Bayreuth is driving forward research into sodium-ion batteries as a cost-effective, sustainable alternative to lithium-ion. As part of an international team of researchers, he has developed a battery with a long service life and high energy. The results have now been published in Nature Energy.
The constantly growing demand for energy storage is driving research and development in battery technology. The sodium-ion battery is a reliable and affordable replacement for lithium-ion batteries. The easy accessibility and availability of sodium makes sodium-ion batteries more attractive and competitive. By using elements that are abundant in the earth and adjusting the phase growth of the layered oxide cathode, a long-cycle, high-energy sodium-ion battery has now been developed and validated at 165 Wh/Kg with the collaboration of Dr Qingsong Wang, junior group leader at the Chair of Inorganic Active Materials for Electrochemical Energy Storage. "Our result shows that sodium-ion batteries are even more cost-effective and sustainable on an industrial scale than conventional lithium-ion batteries, which are based on iron phosphate chemistry," says Wang.
In the study, which has now been published in Nature Energy by a team of scientists from the Universities of Bayreuth (Germany), Xiamen (China), Shenzhen (China), the Argon National Laboratory (USA) and the Physics Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing (China), it is shown that the intergrowth structure can be adapted by controlling the charge depth. This allows a prismatic-type stacking state to be inserted evenly between the octahedral-type stacking states. This helps to avoid neighbouring octahedral-type stacking faults.
Octahedral-type and prismatic-type refer to the geometric arrangement of atoms or ions in a crystal lattice. Octahedral-type means that the atoms or ions in a crystal are arranged in an arrangement that resembles an octahedron. Prismatic-type refers to an arrangement that resembles a prism.
"Our research is to analyse the anionic oxygen redox reaction as an energy enhancer of the layered oxide for the sodium ion cathode," says Wang. "It is important to develop a strategy to make this reaction reversible and stable. In the long term, the results of our research can make mid-range electric vehicles more affordable, as the batteries for them can then be produced more cheaply and with a longer service life."
Original publication
Xiaotong Wang, Qinghua Zhang, Chen Zhao, Haifeng Li, Baodan Zhang, Guifan Zeng, Yonglin Tang, Zhongyuan Huang, Inhui Hwang, Haitang Zhang, Shiyuan Zhou, Yongfu Qiu, Yinguo Xiao, Jordi Cabana, Cheng-Jun Sun, Khalil Amine, Yang Sun, Qingsong Wang, Gui-Liang Xu, Lin Gu, Yu Qiao, Shi-Gang Sun; "Achieving a high-performance sodium-ion pouch cell by regulating intergrowth structures in a layered oxide cathode with anionic redox"; Nature Energy, 2024-1-11
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Topic World Battery Technology
The topic world Battery Technology combines relevant knowledge in a unique way. Here you will find everything about suppliers and their products, webinars, white papers, catalogs and brochures.
