Abstract
Current societal challenges in terms of energy storage have prompted an intensification in the research aiming at unravelling new high energy density battery technologies. These would have the potential of having disruptive effects in the world transition towards a less carbon-dependent energy economy through transport, both by electrification and renewable energy integration. Aside from controversial debates on lithium supply, the development of new sustainable battery chemistries based on abundant elements is appealing, especially for large-scale stationary applications. Interesting alternatives are to use sodium, magnesium or calcium instead of lithium. While for the Na-ion case, fast progresses are expected as a result of chemical similarities with lithium and the cumulated Li-ion battery know-how over the years, for Ca and Mg the situation is radically different. On the one hand, the possibility to use Ca or Mg metal anodes would bring a breakthrough in terms of energy density; on the other, development of suitable electrolytes and cathodes with efficient multivalent ion migration are bottlenecks to overcome.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Energy materials for a low carbon future’.
Highlights
World transition towards a less carbondependent energy economy and technology is urged for, and will need to change transport by electrification and integrate more renewable energy to the grid
In contrast with the M anode systems described above, M-ion concepts mimicking Li-ion battery (LIB) technology but with alternative charge carrier ions instead of Li+ ions seem more straightforward, despite the use of intercalation host material anodes inducing a significant dead weight in the cell and penalizing energy density. For such M-ion technologies, the main issue to consider is that the lowest negative electrode potential limit is set by the standard redox potential of the metal itself, which, when compared to lithium, is only somewhat lower for calcium, sodium and magnesium, but significantly penalized for aluminium
Progress in the sodium-ion battery (SIB) field is achieved at a quick pace, catalysed by the chemical analogies between lithium and sodium and the wide accumulated know-how of LIBs [11,12,13]
Summary
World transition towards a less (or non!) carbondependent energy economy and technology is urged for, and will need to change transport by electrification and integrate more renewable energy to the grid. In contrast with the M anode systems described above, M-ion concepts mimicking LIB technology but with alternative charge carrier ions instead of Li+ ions seem more straightforward, despite the use of intercalation host material anodes inducing a significant dead weight in the cell and penalizing energy density (figure 2). For such M-ion technologies, the main issue to consider is that the lowest negative electrode potential limit is set by the standard redox potential of the metal itself, which, when compared to lithium, is only somewhat lower for calcium, sodium and magnesium The state-of-the art, main challenges and research directions in the field of Na-ion, Mg- and Ca-based technologies will be discussed
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