The new
carbon-based material for sodium-ion batteries can be extracted from apples.
(Photo: KIT/HIU)
(February 19, 2016) Researchers
Develop Novel, Inexpensive, and Powerful Active Materials for Sodium-based
Energy Storage Systems / Publications in Advanced Energy Materials and
ChemElectroChem
A carbon-based active material produced from apple leftovers
and a material of layered oxides might help reduce the costs of future energy
storage systems. Both were found to have excellent electrochemical properties
and stand for the environmentally compatible and sustainable use of resources.
Now, these materials are presented by researchers of the Helmholtz Institute
Ulm of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in the journals “ChemElectroChem” and
“Advanced Energy Materials.”
Sodium-ion batteries are not only far more powerful than
nickel-metal hydride or lead acid accumulators, but also represent an
alternative to lithium-ion technology, as the initial materials needed are
highly abundant, easily accessible, and available at low cost. Hence,
sodium-ion batteries are a very promising technology for stationary energy
storage systems that play a central role in the transformation of the energy
system and will be a highly attractive market in the future.
Now, researchers of the team of Professor Stefano Passerini
and Dr. Daniel Buchholz of the Helmholtz Institute Ulm of Karlsruhe Institute of
Technology have made an important step towards the development of active
materials for sodium-based energy storage systems. For the negative electrode,
a carbon-based material was developed, which can be produced from the leftovers
of apples and possesses excellent electrochemical properties. So far, more than
1000 charge and discharge cycles of high cyclic stability and high capacity
have been demonstrated. This discovery represents an important step towards the
sustainable use and exploitation of resources, such as organic waste.