New Delhi. A research group at Bangalore-based Jawaharlal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) has claimed a super-fast charging sodium-ion (NA-ion) battery, which can be charged up to 80 percent in just six minutes and can run more than 3,000 charges. According to this, it can almost equal lithium-ion batteries. It is also very important for India to prepare another option of lithium ion battery, because, China has almost monopolized the most important element in battery manufacturing lithium. Beijing global lithium-ion controls battery supply chains and storage, and now owns two largest lithium-ion battery manufacturers such as CATL and BYD.
Fast charge and long life
The new battery developed by JNCASR team is based on ‘Nasicon-‘ chemicals, which is a category of electrochemical polyanyonic materials. Unlike old sodium-ion batteries, which are slow charge and their lives are also low, this new battery has used the smart mixture of chemicals and nanotechnology, which has reduced charging time and the charge bicycle has increased.
China’s increasing dominance
Although lithium is a more common element in rechargeable battery manufacturing, China’s dominance in the region is a matter of concern for the auto industry around the world, especially in view of the desire to make its dominance on Beijing’s special techniques. Despite its lithium-ion dominance, Chinese companies are also increasing their role in sodium ion chemicals. CATL, the world’s largest battery manufacturer who supplies lithium-ion batteries to Tesla and GM, has said that he will produce its patented ‘NAXTRA’ sodium-ion battery pack on a large scale by the end of 2025, able to travel up to 500 km on charging an electric vehicle once.
Advantages and disadvantages of sodium chemicals
Since lithium-ion batteries are made up of rare and expensive elements such as cobalt, nickel, copper and lithium, technical companies around the world are looking for options. Sodium provides many advantages: it is much abundant than lithium and can be extracted from seawater at a relatively low cost, while lithium availability is concentrated in some countries and mining includes Argentina, Bolivia and Lithium triangles of Chileal and other areas other than Chilean; And sodium is more environmentally friendly and can be transported to zero volts, which makes it safe.
Sodium chemical problems
But sodium chemicals also have their own problems. Since this battery technology is still in its initial stage, and very few companies are working in this section, which leads to high cost. Sodium-ion-based batteries are limited to flexibility as they cannot be converted into various sizes such as prismatic, cylindrical, and have lower energy density and low storage capacity than lithium-based batteries. The cycle of sodium-ion batteries is also less than that of the cycle life of commercial lithium iron phosphate batteries, which can exceed 8,000 times.
