In the past year or two China made headlines because they started producing large rechargable batteries for cars using Sodium instead of Lithium. You may recall from your high school chemistry class that both of these soft metals are known as the Alkali metals because they form strong bonds with water and the result is highly alkaline. For practical uses like batteries both are about the same weight but Sodium is far more plentiful than Lithiuim, making it much, much cheaper. All the worlds oceans are filled with a Sodium Chloride solution. Salt! Turns out Sodium ion batteries work very well when it gets cold, unlike most other batteries. However, they are currently not capable of storing as much energy as Lithium ion.
That may be about to change. Some smart people at Princeton University have created a new electrolyte and cathode construction that increases the power density of Sodium ion batteries so that they are now similar to the Lithium-Iron phosphate battery technology which is one Li technology now in common use. The two professors have started a company to bring this technology to market!
This info was published in Tech Briefs magazine.© 2009-2025 SAE Media Group
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