Title: Exploring the Future of Battery Technology: Sodium-Ion Batteries
Introduction
As we continue to rely on portable devices and electric vehicles, the need for more efficient and environmentally friendly batteries becomes increasingly important. In this article, we will delve into the world of sodium-ion batteries, a new technology that is gaining attention due to its potential to replace traditional lithium-ion batteries.
The Story Behind Sodium-Ion Batteries
Sodium-ion batteries have been in development for several years, but they are still relatively new compared to other battery technologies. Despite this, researchers and manufacturers have made significant progress in recent months, leading to the creation of functional prototypes that can rival those of established battery types. In fact, some sources indicate that sodium-ion batteries could become a viable replacement for lithium-ion batteries within the next decade.
What are Sodium-Ion Batteries?
Sodium-ion batteries are designed to use sodium instead of lithium as the primary ion in the battery. This change has significant implications for the performance and safety of the battery. One key advantage of sodium-ion batteries is their lower cost, which could make them more accessible to consumers. Additionally, sodium-ion batteries have a lower risk of overheating, which reduces the likelihood of fires or explosions.
Designing a Sodium-Ion Battery
To design a sodium-ion battery, manufacturers must carefully balance several factors, including the type and quantity of materials used, the internal resistance of the battery, and the charging and discharging process. This is because sodium-ion batteries operate at different voltages than traditional lithium-ion batteries, requiring specialized components to ensure safe operation.
The Challenge of Dedicated Charging ICs
One significant challenge facing sodium-ion batteries is the lack of dedicated charging ICs (Integrated Circuits). These ICs are essential for regulating the voltage and current flowing into and out of the battery. Without them, manufacturers must rely on makeshift solutions that may compromise safety and performance.
However, some researchers have discovered a way to build simple constant voltage regulators using ordinary components like LM317 adjustable voltage regulators. This is an exciting development that could potentially make it easier for manufacturers to create reliable sodium-ion batteries.
Comparing Sodium-Ion Batteries to Established Technologies
Sodium-ion batteries face several challenges compared to established battery technologies, including lithium iron phosphate and lithium-ion batteries. For example, sodium-ion batteries have lower energy density than lithium iron phosphate, which makes them less suitable for applications where high power is required.
On the other hand, sodium-ion batteries are more environmentally friendly than traditional lithium-ion batteries due to their use of abundant and inexpensive materials. This could make them a more attractive option for consumers who prioritize sustainability.
The Future of Sodium-Ion Batteries
While there is still much work to be done before sodium-ion batteries become widely available, the potential benefits are significant. As we continue to learn more about this technology, it's likely that manufacturers will refine their designs and improve performance.
In conclusion, sodium-ion batteries offer a promising alternative to traditional lithium-ion batteries. With continued research and development, these batteries could potentially become more efficient, affordable, and environmentally friendly.
WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enNow these two batteries here look about thesame, right?But while they both can provide portable energyfor your laptop, vacuum cleaner or for examplecordless power tool; their inner compositionit totally different.You see this one is made up of lithium andthis one is made up of sodium.And yes; this is very exciting because whilelithium is a scarce resource that is alsoquite pricey, sodium is not rare and thusalso a lot cheaper.I mean normal table salt aka sodium chlorideis made up of around 40% sodium.And for months now I have seen videos on YouTubetalking about that such Salt batteries akaSodium-ion ones will be the future of batterytechnology; but no one actually tested a realone yet.So I was very excited to find these cellsfor sale on AliExpress and I know what you'rethinking; But no, they are not fake.And in this video I will show you exactlywhy I think they are real and more importantlydo a bunch tests in order to ultimately tellyou whether you should from now on, only usethese salt batteries instead of common lithium-ionones.Let's get started!Today's video is sponsored by JLCPCB, my longtime choice for fast and reliable PCB servicesand just recently they launched their highlyanticipated multi-colour silkscreen PCBs.By using them, you can for example add yourown picture to your colourful PCB with thehelp of Pro EasyEDA which is JLCPCBs moreprofessional EDA edition with more powerfulfeatures and functions.And after the design process you can likealways order your PCBs which will not onlybe of high quality, but also very affordable.So join their Facebook group today for anexclusive multi-colour coupon and be amongthe first to try out this new feature.Now first off when looking at these two batteries,there is obviously no way to tell whetherthis one is really sodium based.One possible way to find that out though isof course cutting it open and looking inside.But because I tried the exact same thing ina previous video and had no idea what I waslooking at because I am not a chemist; weshould probably instead focus on an electricalmethod.One of them is called charge/discharge curvemeaning we charge and discharge the batterywhile monitoring its voltage and flowing current.So let's do just that starting with the lithiumbattery by firstly adding tabs to its plusand minus pole and then checking its datasheetto find out how it wants to get treated.And it seems like its standard charge is 1.25Aup to a voltage of 4.2V and for the dischargewecan do a maximum of 20A down to 2.5V; butI wanted to keep it low and thus settled for2.5A.With that in mind I set up my Battery Tester,hooked up the battery, adjusted the currentand voltage values in the software and beganwith the charging process which after around2 hours gave me this curve.So next it was discharge curve time; whichafter around 1 hour looked like this and ifwe put them side by side then we can see avery typical lithium based curve which notonly applies to such lithium-ion cells, butalso LiPo ones and big Lithium Iron Phosphateones.So next let's compare it to the supposedlysodium ion batteries for which I also hookedone up to the battery tester and set its chargingvoltage and current to 4V and 1.3A just likethe datasheet recommends it and its dischargecurrent to 2.6A down to this time 1.8V.And after once again waiting for a few hours,I was greeted with these curves here whichwithout a doubt look quite a bit differentthan the lithium-ion ones and do correspondwith sodium-ion curves you can find in scientificreports which is enough prove for me.But which curve is now better, you might ask?Well, the main big difference is that thelithium battery comes with a narrower voltageplateau where the battery spits out its energywhich is around 4V to 3.4V.The sodium one on the other hand has a widerone between 3.9V and around 2.1VThis has the advantage that you can more easilydetermine how much charge is left in yourbattery, while lithium based ones often haveto keep track of how much current goes inand out of the battery to determine its Stateof Charge.But then again when you got a load that needsa constant power, then its is definitely easierto work with a more stable voltage becausethen the current also stays around the same.With a more decreasing voltage though, thecurrent has to constantly rise to get thesame output power and thus your power electronicshave to be designed this way which can bea bit more expensive.So yeah, both curves have their pros and cons;but what is a definite disadvantage is thatwhile both batteries come with the same size,the sodium one can only deliver around 4.06Whof energy while the lithium one can do 8.7Whwhich is more than double.Of course when digging a bit online you canfind sodium cells with slightly higher capacity,but certainly not as high as lithium basedbatteries at the same size.And that directly brings me to the energydensity comparison for which I checked thevolume, weight and price of one sodium-ioncell and added those information to my batterycomparison chart.And as you can see sodium-ion can only barelyrival lithium iron phosphate when it comesto energy density while being quite a bitmore expensive.But I bet that will soon change due to thelow price of the material and is currentlyonly so high because it is a new technologythat is not quite in mass production yet.And speaking of new technology; there alsodo not exist dedicated charging ICs for sodium-Ionbatteries yet which are definitely mandatorythough because of the different charging voltage.But the good news is that with an ordinaryLM317 adjustable voltage regulator, you canpretty easily build up a crude constant voltageconstant current charger according to theschematic given in its datasheet.With this resistor value we should get a maximumof 1.3A and with this resistor voltage divideran output voltage of 4V which according tomy tests was all pretty close and thus suitablefor my sodium-ion battery.And if you want to put multiple cells in seriesin order to form a powerful battery pack,then you also need a Battery Management Systemaka BMS to keep each individual cell safefrom overcharge and over discharge which nowalso needs to work with other voltage levels.But thankfully there appears to already exista commercial version.So yeah, new technology obviously comes withsome challenges; but for now let's switchback to our raw cells here and the very importantquestion how fast we can charge them up anddischarge them.Now when looking in the datasheets then wecan easily figure out that the max valuesare way bigger for the lithium based battery.To prove this, I powered up my new battery tester which can measure the internal DC resistanceof a battery, by basically comparing how muchits voltage drops when more and more currentflows.After doing this test with both batteriesyou can see that the sodium one features a33% higher internal resistance, meaning thatdue to its chemical structure it producesmore heat when more current flows.That obviously limits its input and outputpower capabilities; but while that soundsbad those values are still very close to thoseof lithium iron phosphate batteries and youknow, those get used as energy storages forhouses and also in electric cars.But while this chemistry does not allow formaximum power, it certainly improves the safetyaspect.I mean when looking up lithium-ion videoson YouTube, then there are plenty where fireand explosions are involved including my ownone from almost 10 years ago.But when browsing through the sodium-ion datasheet, then you can always read that no fire or explosiontook place which I know would definitely beinteresting to test on my own.But honestly speaking I was a bit too scaredto do that.So instead I recommend you to watch this videowhich summarized, ended with the cells flyingaround but not creating an explosion or fire.And last but not least we got the topic ofcycle life meaning how often I can dischargeand charge up the battery before it is losingcapacity.And according to the datasheet the sodiumbattery does 1000 cycles while maintaining85% of its capacity, while the lithium batteryonly comes with 60% after 250 cycles whichis a huge difference.And with that being said, I think we discoveredthe most important advantages and disadvantageswhen it comes to this new battery technology.So do I think we should now all replace allof our lithium-ion batteries?Well, definitely not because I feel like sodium-ion is electrically more similar to lithium ironphosphate and I hope to see it sooner or laterbecome its replacement so that we finallycan have a more environmental friendly battery.So time to play the waiting game; but whiledoing that, feel free to check out some ofmy other videos or my Patreon in order tokeep this show going.As always don't forget to like, share, subscribeand hit the notification bell.Stay creative and I will see you next time.
