"Sodium-ion batteries are safer and cheaper than lithium-ion batteries but need to improve their performance to be commercially deployed."
"Researchers at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) have turned the by-product of the popular Chinese liquor baijiu into a high-performance starting material for anode for sodium-ion batteries, the next-generation energy storage solution."
"While the onus of the global energy transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources has fallen on lithium-ion batteries, scientists are looking for ways to overcome their higher costs and safety concerns."
"Sodium-ion batteries offer a much cheaper and safer alternative as energy storage solutions. However, since sodium ions are much larger than lithium ones, the anode or the positive electrode needs to have larger internal pores than the anode used in lithium-ion batteries."
"While lithium-ion batteries use graphene for anodes, sodium-ion batteries have been teamed up with hard carbon for anodes. However, the material suffers from low coulombic or charge efficiency, severely limiting its performance. Additionally, the frequent insertion and removal of ions can lead to a micropore collapse in hard carbon, which reduces the battery’s energy density and life cycle."