Sodium-ion batteries offer multiple advantages over their lithium counterparts. Energy storage, however, is not one of them. That could be about to change thanks to a new method of creating batteries that involves water-rich cathodes.
Currently, nothing beats lithium-ion batteries. lithium in terms of energy density and lightweight formats. That’s why they dominate the market, from electric cars to cell phones.
But there are certainly problems with the technology, including the fact that lithium itself is difficult, expensive and environmentally harmful to extract.
Lithium batteries are also prone to overheating and can occasionally catch fire and do not perform well at very low temperatures.
That’s why researchers have paid a lot of attention to lithium-ion batteries. sodium as a solution.
As , sodium is extremely abundant, easy to extract, and doesn’t come with the geopolitical complications associated with lithium mining. However, sodium-ion batteries tend to be heavier and have a lower energy density than lithium-ion batteries, meaning less power is obtained from a heavier material.
Now, by taking a unique approach to the cathode material in a sodium-ion battery, researchers at University of Surreyin England, found a way to almost double your energy storage capacity.
Apart from the study, which was in Journal of Materials Chemistry Athe cathodes were created from a compound that is continually being explored for use in these types of batteries, called nanostructured vanadate hydrate (NVOH).
Typically, NVOH is used after being dehydrated, but the team took a different approach.
“Our results were completely unexpected”, praised the research leader, Daniel Commanderin New Atlas.
“Sodium vanadium oxide has been around for years, and People typically heat treat it to remove water because it is thought to cause problems. We decided to challenge this assumptionand the result was much better than we anticipated. The material has shown much stronger performance and stability than expected and could even create exciting new possibilities for how these batteries are used in the future,” he explained.
NVOH was, in fact, so effective that researchers say it is now considered at the top of cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries. Test batteries made from the material remained stable for more than 400 charge cycles.
Scientists say the reason for the increase in energy storage has to do with the fact that the extra water allowed the layers of material to move apart a little, giving the sodium ions more room to move in and out and allowing the cathode to store more of them.
