Sodium-ion Batteries: A Promising Solution for the Transition to a Carbon-Neutral Future

The rapid transition from internal combustion engines to EVs requires significant increases in minor metal supply, leading to uncertainty in the battery sector due to limited availability of raw materials for classical lithium batteries, potentially slowing down the shift to a carbon-neutral future. However, emerging sodium-ion batteries offer a promising solution, with cost, safety, sustainability, and performance benefits over lithium-ion batteries, using widely available and inexpensive raw materials and existing production methods for rapid scalability, making them an attractive prospect for meeting global demand for carbon-neutral energy storage. Increasingly comparable to lithium iron phosphate batteries, even automotive applications are possible.

I found this article from the journal: Chemical Society Reviews very useful to get an understanding about the challenges and potentials of this cell chemistry. It is an open access article and hence free to read.

The article discusses the increasing demand for energy storage technologies and the limitations of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to the sustainability of lithium sources. Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are presented as a promising alternative due to the wide availability of sodium and similar chemistry to LIBs. The article summarizes recent research on electrode materials, electrolytes, additives, and binders for the development of practical SIBs. Challenges in the application of sodium-ion cells, such as cell design and electrode balancing, are also highlighted. The article proposes future directions for SIBs research.