Sodium-ion battery tech

Subject :Science and Technology

Section: EV

Context:

Sodium-based battery technology might soon be a viable alternative to lithium-based ones.
A homogeneous oxysulfide glass electrolyte has been developed, which makes it significantly more viable to produce sodium ion-based batteries commercially and on a larger scale.
It enables reversible sodium plating and stripping at a greater current density.
The ambient temperature solid-state sodium-sulfur battery technology can be used for grid-level energy storage systems with the help of the new electrolyte.
The positively charged metallic ion in sodium or lithium takes the charge from the anode to the cathode of a battery when the circuit is completed. This process is called stripping of the anode.
When a battery is charged, the formation of sodium/lithium occurs around the anode of the battery in its metallic form. This is called plating or deposition.
The positive ions must be free to move about because this movement is what produces electric energy.

Advantage over Lithium batteries

Lithium carbonate prices are at an all-time high.
Mining lithium also has high environmental costs.
Sodium-ion batteries will be cheaper to produce than their lithium counterparts because of the abundance of the raw materials required to make them.
The process of recycling lithium-ion batteries is even more expensive than the extraction of lithium and as a result, the market usually ends up disposing of it instead, much to the detriment of our planet and its resources.