Sodium-battery-technology-has-achieved-new-breakthroughs

Currently, there are reports that researchers at the University of Maryland have developed a solid-state sodium battery architecture that performs better than current sodium-ion batteries. By using sodium metal as the negative electrode to achieve higher energy density, the battery achieved record-breaking solid-state sodium-metal cycling rates at room temperature. Moreover, the battery uses a more stable ceramic electrolyte, which reduces the risk of flammability. Relevant research was published in the new issue of the journal "Energy and Environmental Science".

This time, the solid-state sodium battery architecture developed by the researchers is based on sodium superion conductor materials. Sodium superionic conductors are non-flammable solid electrolytes with high ionic conductivity and excellent chemical and electrochemical stability.

The researchers successfully demonstrated stable sodium cycling at high current densities, as well as full-cell cycling of thin 3D-structured ion-conducting solid electrolytes. This is an important advance for sustainable and more economical energy storage technology.

The development of sodium battery industry is expected to accelerate

With the rapid growth of the global new energy vehicle and energy storage industries, the supply of lithium resources as the core raw material is facing bottlenecks, and the price of lithium batteries continues to rise. Therefore, the industry is trying to find alternatives to lithium-ion batteries, and sodium batteries are a good choice. Sodium batteries have become the "new favorite" of the power battery industry in recent years due to their advantages such as long life, easy manufacturing, high safety, and low theoretical cost.

According to China Science and Technology Information Magazine, experts predict that with the further large-scale application of sodium-ion batteries, there may be a price turning point in 2024. By then, especially in energy storage applications, the cost of sodium-ion batteries will be lower than that of lithium-ion batteries. Battery costs; by 2025, costs are expected to drop even further.

From the perspective of industry growth rate, the sodium battery industry will enter a stage of rapid growth. According to China Energy News, industry insiders believe that with the rapid development of the electric vehicle and energy storage markets, sodium-ion batteries are expected to copy the rapid development path of lithium-ion batteries and become one of the emerging industries with the highest growth rate in the next 10 years. The Advanced Industrial Research Institute predicts that sodium-ion battery shipments will exceed 50 GWh by 2025 and will exceed 1,000 GWh by 2030; in the next few years, the annual compound growth rate of sodium-ion batteries will exceed 82.6% .

There are more than 70 A-share listed companies in the sodium battery industry, many of which have made progress. Zhenhua New Materials has completed product finalization of the third generation of sodium-ion battery cathode materials; so far, it has achieved hundreds of tons of sales and has been loaded into vehicles.