2024 Capability Portfolio Digital | Page 98

Clean Energy Capability Portfolio | Storage Technologies

Sodium-Ion Batteries for

Large Scale Storage

Sodium-ion batteries are a potential candidate that can either supplement or replace lithium-ion batteries for specialised applications , such as renewable energy storage . These batteries typically store slightly less energy density than lithium-ion batteries . Although not the best solution for portable electronics or electric vehicles , they are ideal for stationary energy storage . Sodiumion batteries are new to the market and commercially attractive to further develop and optimise components , and understand their structure-property relationships .

Competitive Advantage

• Development of environmentally-friendly , costeffective electrode materials
• Use of a range of analytical techniques , particularly operando synchrotron X-ray diffraction , to elucidate structure-property relationships
• Utilising waste as a source for sodium-ion battery electrodes , potentially making them even more environmentally-friendly and cheaper
• Rationale design of new materials

Impact

• The development and understanding of materials for potential commercial sodium-ion batteries
• Understanding structure-property relationships to design better materials

Successful Applications

Capabilities and Facilities

• Battery materials development to research-scale cell development
• Access to key analytical techniques , such as operando synchrotron X-ray diffraction , solid-state NMR , surface analysis and electron microscopy
• X-ray tomography of devices

Our Collaborators

• Vecor Technologies

More Information

Professor Neeraj Sharma
School of Chemistry
T : + 61 2 9385 4714
E : neeraj . sharma @ unsw . edu . au
• Evaluating the chemical compositions of electrodes and their performance
• Combining a range of analytical methods to understand material properties in devices
• Development of new environmentally-friendly and cost-effective materials

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