World's first universal sodium ion secondary battery emerged, replacing lithium battery

It is no exaggeration to say that laptop PCs, smartphones, electric vehicles (EV) were realized with the advent of lithium ion batteries, and it is expected that increasing battery performance will become increasingly important for technology evolution I will. Meanwhile, it is expected to replace lithium-ion batteriesSodium ion secondary battery"Commercial version prototype has been released.

A Battery Revolution in Motion | CNRS News
https://news.cnrs.fr/articles/a-battery-revolution-in-motion

Here's a Peek at the First Sodium-ion Rechargeable Battery - IEEE Spectrum
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/energy/renewables/a-first-prototype-of-a-sodiumion-rechargeable-battery

Due to the development of lithium-ion secondary batteries with high voltage and energy density, various technologies were realized, but because it is biased towards some regions such as Central and South America that can extract metal lithium, geopolitical risk Furthermore, since lithium-ion batteries use rare metals such as cobalt as electrodes, there is a problem in coping with cost and production increase, so development of secondary batteries replacing lithium ion batteries There is a call for the need for.


Same as lithium as its post · lithium ion batteryAlkali metalSodium has attracted attention, sodium ion batteries that carry charges using sodium ions are considered to be promising. Sodium ion batteries have drawbacks such as a voltage 0.3 V lower than lithium ion batteries, heavy mass as elements, low energy density, but sodium is lower than lithiumClarke numberIt is expected to be put into practical use because it is 1000 times larger than 1000 times and can be taken out from sea water inexhaustibly everywhere in the world.

Meanwhile, the National Science Research Center in France (CNRS)WhenRS2E networkJoint research group succeeded in developing a sodium ion battery conforming to the size "18650" size cylinder of diameter 1.8 cm × length 6.5 cm which is the most popular as the world standard for portable computer batteries, We released the prototype.


What is used for electrode materials in the development of sodium ion batteries is a big key factor, but the electrode material of the 18650 sodium ion battery that was made public is confidential because it is secret, but the weight energy density is 90 Wh / Kg It is said that the number of chargeable times has achieved more than 2000 cycles. Although it is about half the weight energy density of mainstream lithium ion battery now, it is almost the same value as when the lithium ion battery appeared on the market, so it is appreciated as an excellent value as a good start.


Since sodium ion batteries are inferior to lithium ion batteries in terms of performance, Japanese manufacturers such as Sony and Sanyo in the 1990s put lithium-ion batteries into practical use, the development seems to have been brought down once. However, Dr. Jean-Marie Tarasukon of CNRS, a heavyweight of battery research in France, witnessed the advent of EV equipped with a large amount of lithium-ion batteries, and in anticipation that supply shortages of lithium-ion batteries will definitely occur, We have been working on the development of sodium ion batteries again. Ultimately, the results have been achieved and we finally succeeded in putting sodium ion batteries into practical use. Dr. Tarascon pointed out that European leaders, mainly in France, who were leading in basic research on lithium-ion batteries, have suffered from the bitter experience that Japanese companies postpone the practical use of lithium-ion batteries, We are hurried to put the sodium ion battery into practical use.

While demand for storage batteries such as storage of renewable energy such as photovoltaic power generation is increasing, demand for secondary batteries will expand to double the current 80 billion dollars (about 10 trillion yen) by 2020 I have trial calculations. Companies that succeeded in developing higher performance sodium ion batteries may be the hegemonic of the expanding battery market.