Breakthrough material for sodium-ion batteries found

The development of a new material for sodium-ion batteries opens up the prospect of replacing lithium in the field of energy storage due to its availability, lower cost and stability.

An international team of researchers, led by Pierre-Manuel Canepa from the University of Houston,&nsbsp;presented a material based on sodium vanadium phosphate (NaxV2(PO4)3), which demonstrates improved characteristics. This material allows for an increase in energy density by more than 15%, reaching 458 Wh/kg compared to 396 Wh/kg in conventional sodium-ion batteries. The system provides a constant voltage of 3.7 V, which is higher than the same value of previous materials.

“Sodium is almost 50 times cheaper than lithium and is available from seawater, making it ideal for large-scale energy storage”,

— Canepa noted. Thanks to its single-phase structure, the sodium-ion battery provides stability and efficiency, and the use of vanadium, capable of various stable states, significantly increases the performance of the technology.

The synthesis method of NaxV2(PO4)3 can also be adapted to create other similar materials. Interest in the technology is growing: the Chinese company CATL has already introduced sodium-ion batteries that work even at – 40 °C, confirming the prospects of new solutions for replacing lithium-ion storage.