Sodium-Ion Battery Soon Ready for the Mass Market
According to a study, sodium-ion batteries are close to market readiness. Targeted material improvements are expected to make the batteries suitable for use in electric vehicles in the medium term.
Sodium-ion batteries are on the verge of industrial mass production. This is the conclusion of a recent study by the Fraunhofer Research Production Battery Cell (FFB) and the University of Münster. According to the study, they are already an alternative today, especially for applications with lower energy density requirements. According to the study, expected material optimizations could lead to sodium-ion batteries also being used in electric vehicles in the coming years.
Sodium-ion batteries are considered less harmful to the environment, but often also less powerful.
Summarizes study author Philipp Voß, a research associate at Fraunhofer FFB,
Our results show that this blanket assessment falls short
The technology is more versatile than previously assumed.
Voß, explains:
Depending on the cell chemistry, the energy density and carbon footprint can vary considerably
According to the authors, the study is the first to demonstrate this differentiation through modeling based on industrial production data on a gigafactory scale, with a focus on energy density and CO2 footprint. The study exclusively examined cell chemistries and materials that are currently being pursued and further developed by commercial manufacturers.
Targeted Material Optimization
Specifically, the study results show that sodium-ion batteries currently store even less energy than lithium-ion batteries based on lithium iron phosphate, according to the researchers, especially in terms of volume. According to the study authors, this gap can be reduced through targeted material optimization and even completely eliminated in individual cell chemistries.
Voß, explains:
Cells with layered oxide cathodes are among the most promising candidates among sodium-ion batteries.
“They achieve the highest energy densities among the cell types examined”,
According to the study, many sodium-ion cell chemistries also already perform well in terms of their carbon footprint. The use of hard carbon as an anode material in particular shows advantages. Compared to the synthetic graphite used in lithium-ion batteries, whose production is particularly energy-intensive, according to the researchers, hard carbon can be produced in a much more climate-friendly way.
Simon Lux, explains:
The low energy consumption in the production of hard carbon not only reduces emissions, but also the cost of the anode material – a decisive advantage over lithium-ion technology,
Hard Carbon Still Offers Room for Improvement
However, there is a weakness in terms of energy density: while battery cell manufacturers use different materials on the cathode side, according to the researchers, hard carbon is the dominant anode material. This currently has a significantly lower specific energy than the graphite in classic lithium-ion batteries. However, hard carbon still offers room for performance improvements. According to the study, targeted material improvements could increase energy density and reduce emissions by up to 11 %.
Lux, says:
Hard carbon is still the bottleneck in energy density today
“But the development potential is great. With targeted optimizations, the gap to lithium iron phosphate can be closed in the foreseeable future”.
Sodium-ion batteries are already entering the battery market, and several companies are pursuing plans for gigafactory-scale production. According to the researchers, drop-in technology in existing production lines for lithium-ion batteries significantly lowers market entry barriers and accelerates production growth.
Simon Lux, emphasizes:
With sodium-ion batteries, we have the opportunity to become geostrategically independent from countries such as China
“To leverage this potential, targeted funding for research and development of sodium-ion batteries is essential.”
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