Boffins interrogate sodium ion battery stability mystery

The world is inching closer to replacing lithium in batteries with sodium – and Cornell University researchers think they've found a way to help address stability problems in the nascent energy storage technology.  By shooting a highly synchronized X-ray beam at a sodium ion battery in the process of charging, researchers said …

[Cybersaber]

decades of industrial espionage by china...

...and we all cheerfully imported the stolen IP made by slave or almost-slave labor.

Too late to get salty about the results now.

[jeremya]

The issue is not so much soda ash (sodium carbonate) as the relative cost compared to other sodium sources.

In all cases, the cost of the sodium is a tiny fraction of the cost of any cells

In the construction of various types of sodium cells, other materials required include manganese, iron, cobalt, titanium, and sulphur. Each has its own supply issues.

But even these are only a fraction of the cost of lithium ion cells which are dominated by handling highly dangerous processing chemicals and anode and cathode production technology.

Sodium ion will become attractive when it can be manufactured with 'green' chemicals without containment in small production facilities. This technology is still in its infancy.

[ThatOne]

> This technology is still in its infancy.

So, to be taken with a grain of salt?

_{Sorry, couldn't resist...}

[Combat Epistomologist]

Sodium ion...?

Never mind sodium iron, the battery chemistry I'm interested in is aluminum ion. The chemistry is non-flammable, the material is cheap as dirt, and it offers up to three times the charge density of lithium-ion or sodium-ion batteries, because the aluminum ion is 3-valent vs. the 1-valent lithium and sodium ions. The aluminum ion chemistry was invented by John Goodenough, the same guy who invented the lithium-ion battery, so, y'know, can't say the dude doesn't know what he's doing.

[Kevin McMurtrie]

Re: Sodium ion...?

Let us call the chemistry less flammable for now. Surely somebody will figure out how to overcharge an aluminum ion battery and melt a hole into the ground.

[Cybersaber]

Re: Sodium ion...?

The practical difference between an energy storage device and a bomb is just the delta between the rate and method of energy release. From a certain point of view, a bag of lollipops are explosive technology just waiting to be engineered into an explosive release mechanism.