Sodium battery
-
An innovative new method of drawing direct electrochemical energy from seawater means underwater robots, vehicles and detectors could go deeper and longer into the unknown.
-
While experimental sodium-ion batteries continue to show promise, there are a few kinks to be ironed out before we see them become commonplace. Researchers at Purdue University are claiming to have overcome one important shortcoming by first reducing the sodium to a powder form.
-
Striking a balance between common materials and efficiency is important for batteries, and regular old salt looks like it could fit the bill – after a few kinks are ironed out. Now, KAUST researchers have developed a way to make disordered graphene that can improve the sodium-ion battery recipe.
-
Cheaper than lithium, and constructed using very common materials, molten salt batteries could be back on the menu thanks to a new steel-based membrane between the electrodes. The discovery could pave the way for cheap, grid-level power storage that will allow cities to use more renewable energy.
-
As good as it is as an electrode material, lithium is relatively rare and expensive. In the search for a cheaper alternative, a Stanford team has developed a sodium-ion battery that would beat lithium-ion batteries in terms of cost per storage capacity.
-
Stainless steel mesh is often used as filters and screens but once the material gets coated in rust and weakened, it's usually just discarded. Now Chinese scientists have figured out a way to take that metal trash and turn into high-performing treasure as electrodes in potassium ion batteries.
-
Researchers have used defective apples to produce a cheap and high-performance electrode for a sodium-ion battery, with applications including grid storage, portable electronics and electric cars.
-
Researchers at the University of Illinois have come up with a new battery design that not only relies on salt water to store and release electricity, but removes the salt ions from the water in the process.