(Invited) A Brief History of Sodium-Ion Battery Research

Interest in sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) has never been greater than it is now. This is in great part due to concerns about the sustainability and cost of energy storage devices based on lithium. Another advantage to sodium-ion systems is their similarity to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs); knowledge gained over the past few decades on the latter has been leveraged to rapidly develop the former. For this reason, sodium-ion batteries are the closest to commercialization of all the “Beyond Lithium-Ion Battery” chemistries. NIBs are particularly attractive for large-scale energy storage, but may also have a place in vehicular applications, particularly if vehicle-to-grid systems are considered. Intercalation of sodium into host structures such as TiS 2 was described as early as 1978. [1] A few attempts at making “rocking chair” batteries based on sodium followed a few years later, including one using Na 0.7 CoO 2 as the positive electrode and a sodium-lead alloy as the negative. [2] In 1993, the first NIB using a disordered carbon anode was described. [3] Although performance was poor by today’s standards, it set the stage for further work in the area. However, research on NIBs languished for several decades after this while the battery community largely turned its attention to the newly commercialized Li-ion systems. It was not until the early 2010s that interest picked up again, as LIBs matured and concerns about lithium supply security heightened. This talk will cover the history of sodium-ion battery research, including the speaker’s early contributions to the field, as well as her more recent work on titanate anodes. An overview of the advantages and possible applications of NIBs will be included. [1] M. S. Whittingham, Prog. Solid State Chem. 12 , 41 (1978). [2] L. W. Shacklette, T.R. Jow, and L. Townsend, J. Electrochem. Soc. 135, 2669 (1988). [3] M. M. Doeff, Y. Ma, S.J. Visco and L.C. De Jonghe, J. Electrochem. Soc. 140, L169 (1993).