Tuesday, July 12, 2022
By Manoj Kumawat
Breaking News: Sodium-Ion Batteries Can Smash Lithium-Ion
The scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur have developed Sodium-ion batteries and supercapacitors from the nano-materials. These batteries can charge dynamically and already power the e-cycles. The notable feature of these batteries is their low cost of manufacturing which can directly impact the production cost of the vehicles.
A team under the supervision of Dr Amreesh Chandra, Professor in the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, had worked for years to develop an energy storage technology with help of Na-ion. Interestingly, his team succeeded in developing a huge number of nanomaterials. The information regarding this was shared by the Ministry of Science and Technology in a statement.
The team developed the Na-ion batteries and supercapacitors by using sodium iron phosphates and sodium manganese phosphates with the help of the team from the Technology Mission Division of the Department of Science and Technology under the Central government. The team combined the sodium materials with multiple novel architectures of carbon for developing a battery. The sodium materials are high performing and less expensive than Li- materials and can be used for various industrial purposes.
Moving ahead the Na-ion cell can discharge to zero volts, like a capacitor, and therefore is safer than other technologies used for storage. At the same time, these batteries charge more instantly. Dr Amreesh has used these batteries in e-cycles. With more R &D on these batteries, their cost can be lowered up to Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000. This will make their cost 25% less than Li-ion batteries. Moving ahead, the disposal of these batteries is simple. With further development, the price of these vehicles can be brought down to the range of Rs 10,000-15,000, making them nearly 25 per cent cheaper than Li-ion storage technologies-based e-cycles.
As disposal strategies of Na-ion-based batteries would be simpler, it can also help in addressing the climate mitigation issue.
