NEXGENNA – Sodium-ion Batteries

Sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) are an emerging battery technology, on the cusp of commercialisation, with promising cost, safety, sustainability and performance benefits when compared to lithium-ion batteries. They use widely available and inexpensive raw materials and existing lithium-ion production methods, promising rapid scalability. NIBs are an attractive prospect in meeting global demand for carbon-neutral energy storage, where lifetime operational cost, not weight or volume, is the overriding factor. Increasingly sodium-ion batteries have characteristics comparable to lithium iron phosphate (LFP), suggesting that even mid-range automotive applications are possible.

NEXGENNA is taking a multi-disciplinary approach incorporating fundamental chemistry through scale-up and cell manufacturing. Many models of future renewable networks encompass storage for increased network resilience and to ensure the efficiency of small-scale renewable sources. The widespread use of commercial NIBs that this project will facilitate, would aid the realisation of these models, and fulfil the need for low-cost electric transport options in the densely populated and polluted conurbations of developing economies.