Brazilian researchers develop sodium-based battery

Sodium, a chemical element widely abundant in nature, has emerged as a potential game-changer in the field of energy storage. Found in seawater and salt deposits across all continents, sodium (Na) could potentially steal up to 25 percent of the market currently occupied by lithium batteries — which power a wide range of devices, such as electric cars, drones, smartphones, notebooks, tablets, and other electronic gadgets.

A team from the College of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Campinas (Feec-Unicamp) is working on developing the first prototype of a Brazilian sodium battery. Currently, only Chinese manufacturers offer commercial batteries with this technology. The first electric vehicles equipped with these modules are expected to reach the market later this year.

The Brazilian project is supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (Fapesp) and the Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell. “We already have the capacity to develop the technology and produce the first prototypes,” says physicist Hudson Zanin, who leads the research project.

In collaboration with colleagues from the Santa Catarina-based company WEG, an electric engine manufacturer, Unicamp researchers recently submitted a project proposal to Rota 2030, a federal program aiming at promoting innovation in the automotive production chain. 

The proposal aims to develop and produce 1 ampere-hour sodium batteries with 1.2 kilowatt-hours energy storage modules suitable for hybrid electric vehicles. These vehicles are powered by liquid fuels such as gasoline and ethanol and feature a supplementary electric motor energized by the internal combustion engine itself.

The technologies used in sodium and lithium batteries, Mr. Zanin says, are very similar. 

In both cases, ions (groups of atoms carrying an electric charge) are responsible for transporting and storing electrons during the charging and uncharging processes. To accomplish this, the ions penetrate the structure of the electrodes, which consist of a positive pole,...