New graphene material could enable the fabrication of high-performance electrodes for sodium batteries

Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, Accurion GmbH, Germany and Institute of Organic Synthesis and Photoreactivity (ISOF) at the National Research Council of Italy have presented a novel concept for fabricating high-performance electrode materials for sodium batteries. It is based on a novel type of graphene to store one of the world’s most common and cheap metal ions – sodium. The results of their study show that the capacity can match today’s lithium-ion batteries.

Sodium, unlike lithium, is an abundant low-cost metal, and a main ingredient in seawater. This makes sodium-ion batteries an interesting and sustainable alternative for reducing our need for critical raw materials. However, one major challenge is increasing the capacity. At the current level of performance, sodium-ion batteries cannot compete with lithium-ion cells. One limiting factor is the graphite, which is used as the anode in today’s lithium-ion batteries.