Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country,
Bilbao, Spain.
By Prof. Teófilo Rojo, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain.
Pollution is one of the main concerns of the modern era, and thus, research on new energy storage technologies has become critical for the transition from the existing energy model to a more sustainable one based on renewable energies. In this scenario, sodium-ion batteries (NIBs) represent a low-cost and environmentally friendly alternative to lithium-based energy storage systems, attracting great interest from both research and industry. In fact, the rapid growth of companies such as Tiamat, Faradion or HiNa proves that this technology is already positioned at the forefront of energy storage solutions. The performance of NIBs is closely related to the selection of materials, thus, intense work on materials research is still required to produce and optimize anodes, cathodes and electrolytes for these systems. In this talk, an overview of the main families of materials for each battery component will be presented, emphasizing both their advantages and drawbacks, and providing insights on future development pathways. Besides, the industrial and market scene will also be discussed by analysing the existing prototypes and commercial cells. Now that Na-ion technology is ready for a coming second generation, future perspectives and unsolved issues will also be examined from a materials research perspective.
Co-authors
V. Palomares, I.Ruiz de Larramedi, E.Goikolea and T.Rojo
Biography
Teófilo Rojo has been Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) since 1992. He is the co-author of over 560 articles, fourteen book chapters and two books. His research is focused on Energy Storage Systems (batteries and supercapacitors)
From 2010 to 2020 he has been the Scientific Director of the CIC energiGUNE. He has been the chairman of the Solid-State Chemistry Group and Materials within the Spanish Royal Society of Chemistry (RSEQ) for ten years. He was awarded with the National Prize in Inorganic Chemistry by the RSEQ in 2013. He was appointed as an Academic Member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Exacts, Physical and Natural Sciences in 2015. He was a Member of the Executive Committee of the Division of Solid-State Chemistry and Materials (DSSMC) from EuCheMS (2014-2016) and in 2016 he was appointed as a Member of the Chemistry and Energy of EuCheMS (European Chemical Science).