A super-fast charging sodium-ion (Na-ion) battery that can charge up to 80 per cent in just six minutes and claims to last over 3,000 charge cycles, nearly comparable with the more ubiquitous lithium-ion batteries. This is a breakthrough claimed by a research team at the Bengaluru-based Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology, and is being touted as yet another promising step in India’s efforts at nurturing an alternative to the lithium-ion chemistry — the most common element in battery manufacturing where China has a virtual stranglehold. Beijing controls the global lithium-ion battery supply chain as well as the world’s lithium refining capacity used for battery storage and electric cars, and now has two of the biggest li-ion battery makers — CATL and BYD.
Developed by a JNCASR team led by Prof. Premkumar Senguttuvan and Ph.D. scholar Biplab Patra, the new battery is based on a ‘NASICON-type’ chemistry, a class of polyanionic materials with a known structure in electrochemical materials, but with a significantly enhanced performance claim using novel material engineering. Unlike conventional sodium-ion batteries that suffer from sluggish charging and short lifespans, this new battery uses a smart mix of chemistry and nanotechnology to demonstrate a significantly lower charge time and more charge cycles.
In an earlier interaction with The Indian Express, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, Ajay Kumar Sood had stressed on the need for India to look beyond the lithium chemistry for batteries and how sodium ion was already an option. “Multiple technologies (is the way forward)… In the case of EVs, I don’t think that lithium chemistry (for batteries) is the end of the world… Other electro chemistries have to be tried, and are being tried… Solid, solid state batteries are the ultimate, in my view, because they’ll be the safest, and energy density will be the highest, but there you still have some R&D issues, so it’s still not commercial yet… But that’s where we should work. Fully solid state batteries, where the electrolyte is also solid. But sodium ion batteries are already an option. It’s happening…”
Multiple players
There is more promising work in the sodium ion battery tech that is happening in India. In February this year, Pune-based KPIT Technologies and Trentar Energy Solutions Pvt Ltd, a company targeting the electrical mobility and energy storage space, announced a collaboration on sodium-ion battery technology. Under this, KPIT said it will transfer its new sodium-ion battery technology — which it claims has an extended lifespan (80 per cent capacity retention over 3,000-6,000 cycles), and faster charging capability than lithium batteries — to Trentar Energy Solutions. The latter will operationalise and commercialise the technology further. Earlier, in May 2023, scientists at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay claimed a breakthrough in developing sodium-ion batteries by addressing the challenges of air-water instability and structural-cum-electrochemical instability in cathode materials.
While lithium is the more common element being used in rechargeable battery manufacturing, the stranglehold of China in this sector is a cause for worry, especially given Beijing’s willingness to weaponise its dominance over particular technologies. Its Li-ion dominance notwithstanding, Chinese companies are also stepping up their play in the sodium ion chemistry. CATL, the world’s biggest battery maker that supplies Li-ion batteries to Tesla and GM, has said it will mass-produce by the end of 2025 its patented ‘Naxtra’ sodium-ion battery packs that would enable an electric vehicle to travel up to 500 km on a single charge.
