African Mining October 2019 | Page 43

MINING IN FOCUS  AfriTin’s project in Uis has started producing. "Unlike other artificial interface materials, tin is easier to apply during the manufacturing process. free performance was observed in a variety of other experiments, including the use of a high-loading cathode material with the battery. The tin interface was also evaluated using a sodium anode, notorious for its high reactivity and propensity to form dendrites. An enhancement in lifetime from less than 10 hours to more than 1 700 hours was observed at moderate current density. “Lots of effort has been devoted to developing sodium- ion batteries because sodium is cheaper than lithium,” says Tu. “Although sodium-related battery technology is still in the early stage, it is a part of the metal-based battery family and is recognised to be promising.” The research team plans to examine their hybrid anode concept to understand the design rules for using electrochemically active metals as artificial interfaces for high-energy alkali metal anodes. They have also begun efforts to optimise their anode design to facilitate larger- scale deployment. The research was supported by the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy, and by the National Science Foundation. Syl Kacapyr is public relations and content manager for the College of Engineering.  www. africanmining.co.za African Mining Publication African Mining African Mining  October 2019  41