Fireproof sodium battery for home use

A newly developed battery, which is barely flammable, contains no critical raw materials and offers solid performance, is intended to contribute to the widespread use of energy storage devices.

A research team from the National University of Singapore (NUS)has developed sodium-based batteries with a non-flammable electrolyte. This could make such a battery cheaper to produce in the long run than lithium-ion batteries and would be the better choice in many applications.

The electrolyte used is ethylene glycol dimethyl ether, also known as monoglyme or glyme, an organic liquid that is completely miscible with water. Unlike many currently used electrolytes, this one is less flammable. At the same time, according to research director Palani Balaya, sodium batteries are less prone to overheating during a short circuit than lithium-ion batteries. This behavior is virtually eliminated in lithium iron phosphate batteries.

According to the research team, the developed battery is not only suitable for home use. It could also be used in particularly sensitive areas, such as data centers, which benefit from the fast response time of rechargeable batteries, because the fire risk is reduced compared to conventional batteries.

High service life

Additionally, 30,000 charging cycles were completed in laboratory tests using a newly developed electrode. Afterwards, the usable capacity was still at 50 percent.

Further development steps aim to replace all rare raw materials or those available from only a few sources, if possible. This is essential to avoid dependence on individual suppliers. Furthermore, the demand for batteries is expected to increase so dramatically that the use of rare elements will become virtually impossible.

Energy density remains low.

A start-up has already been founded to manufacture the developed sodium batteries industrially. According to the NUS report, the manufactured batteries achieve an energy density of 90 to 100 watt-hours per kg, almost half that of lithium-ion batteries.

An increase of up to 50 percent should be possible. Then there would essentially be no disadvantages compared to existing battery technologies, at least when used as stationary storage.

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