New Paper: Correlating Local Structure and Sodium Storage in Hard Carbon Anodes

Hi Everyone,

Please check out this excellent new article on the local structure and sodium-ion storage mechanisms in hard carbon anodes, which has now been published fully open access in JACS. This work was the culmination of a fantastic team effort - so well done everybody. A collaboration between the University of Cambridge, the University of Birmingham, Imperial College London, Diamond Light Source and Faradion. Understanding these mechanisms in hard carbons is of critical importance in optimizing the performance of next-gen sodium-ion batteries. Enjoy!

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.1c06058

Sodium-ion Batteries - Roadmap Article from the UK's Faraday Institution (Nexgenna)

Dear All,

The roadmap for sodium-ion batteries has now been published fully open access in JPhys Energy. Please take a look. This excellent article covers all aspects of sodium-ion batteries from basic research to commercialization. Enjoy the read. It was a fantastic team effort - so well done everybody. Feedback would be much appreciated.

Go Sodium!

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2515-7655/ac01ef

Next Generation Technologies (Energising the UK battery supply chain)

Dear All,

I gave a short talk on Sodium-ion Batteries on July 19, 2021. This was part of a series of webinars organized by the UK's Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).

https://www.soci.org/

https://www.soci.org/events/hq-events/2021/next-generation-technologies-energising-the-uk-battery-supply-chain--part-4

For this workshop, SCI and the Chemistry Council Innovation Committee (CCIC) have organised a program of speakers from both industry and academia to cover the latest developments in technologies within the automotive industry. These talks will be followed by breakout discussions between participants, enabling them to meet others working on these technologies, and discuss what is needed to progress these next generation technologies further in the UK.

 

Programme:

Welcome and introduction

David Bott, SCI

What’s driving the next generation of batteries?

Prof David Greenwood, University of Warwick

A Short Introduction to (non-aqueous) Na-ion Batteries

Dr Jerry Barker, Faradion

Technology review and equipment study for next-generation Li-ion batteries

Dr Bahareh Yazdani, UKBIC

Fresh Pastures and New Ideas

Hi Everyone,

After 10 years as Founder and CTO at Faradion Limited I have decided that the time is right for a change of direction. Moving forward I will remain with the company as the Chief Scientist. But this change will also allow me to explore some new opportunities within the battery sector. On that basis, I have re-launched my consultancy business – Jerry Barker Consultants.

I would like to thank everyone at Faradion for the past 10 years - it has been a hugely rewarding experience. There is little doubt that Faradion’s Na-ion battery technology has a very bright future. High performance, low-cost and sustainable. What’s not to like? I am honoured to contribute to this success as the Chief Scientist.

On a broader theme, this really is a defining moment in the history of batteries and battery innovation. There is a huge market demand for low cost and high-performance energy storage. As a community, where do we go from here? What does the future hold? What are the really key challenges? What are the best next gen technologies? Beyond Li-ion cell chemistries, all solid-state cells, fast charge acceptance, anode-free technology, novel and inexpensive cell manufacturing methods, sustainability, new electrode architectures, low cost active materials, electric vehicles, new markets and applications, recycling and second use. These are just some of the areas where major technical advances will follow.

From a commercial standpoint, how does the UK (and for that matter, Europe) remain relevant? How do we convert cutting-edge fundamental battery innovation into commercial success? This will require some fresh thinking plus new ideas and major technology innovations.

I will keep you posted on my future plans as they emerge. In the meantime, please keep in contact and I thank you for your continued support.

Good Luck!

Jerry

UK House of Lords: Role of Batteries in Achieving UK NetZero 2050

Hi everyone,

I recently gave oral evidence at the following UK House of Lords formal meeting:

UK House of Lords, Science and Technology Committee. Formal Meeting: Role of Batteries and Fuel Cells in achieving NetZero.

https://committees.parliament.uk/event/3943/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/

The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee will hear from leading researchers about anticipated developments in batteries and fuel cells over the next ten years that could contribute to meeting the net-zero target.

The Committee continues its inquiry into the Role of batteries and fuel cells in achieving Net Zero. It will ask a panel of experts about batteries, hearing about the current state-of-the-art in technologies that are currently in deployment, primarily lithium-ion batteries. It will also explore the potential of next generation technologies currently in development and the challenges in scaling them up to manufacture.

The Committee will then question a second panel about fuel cells, hearing about the different types available and their applications. It will explore challenges that need to be overcome in the development of the technology, and will consider the UK’s international standing in the sector.

The video of the session may be found here:

https://parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/f8361f3c-3cef-47f6-9247-0871d5b0a0b7#player-tabs

There is also access to the transcript.

Thanks!

Jerry

Book: Na-ion Batteries

 Hiya,

There is an excellent new book published by Wiley on Na-ion Batteries. This book is highly recommended to anyone who would like to understand the current status of Na-ion battery technology. Covers active materials to commercialization. The future of energy storage is sodium!

This book covers both the fundamental and applied aspects of advanced Na-ion batteries (NIB) which have proven to be a potential challenger to Li-ion batteries. Both the chemistry and design of positive and negative electrode materials are examined. In NIB, the electrolyte is also a crucial part of the batteries and the recent research, showing a possible alternative to classical electrolytes – with the development of ionic liquid-based electrolytes – is also explored.

Cycling performance in NIB is also strongly associated with the quality of the electrode-electrolyte interface, where electrolyte degradation takes place; thus, Na-ion Batteries details the recent achievements in furthering knowledge of this interface. Finally, as the ultimate goal is commercialization of this new electrical storage technology, the last chapters are dedicated to the industrial point of view, given by two start-up companies, who developed two different NIB chemistries for complementary applications and markets.

Our group has written the chapter on commercialization of Faradion's Na-ion technology.

Contents:

1. Layered NaMO2 for the Positive Electrode, Shinichi Komaba and Kei Kubota.
2. Polyanionic-Type Compounds as Positive Electrodes for Na-ion batteries, Long H. B. Nguyen, Fan Chen, Christian Masquelier and
Laurence Croguennec.
3. Hard Carbon for Na-ion Batteries: From Synthesis to Performance and Storage Mechanism, Carolina Del Mar Saavedra Rios, Adrian Beda, Loic Simonin and Camélia Matei Ghimbeu.
4. Non-Carbonaceous Negative Electrodes in Sodium Batteries, Vincent Gabaudan, Moulay Tahar Sougrati, Lorenzo Stievano
and Laure Monconduit.
5. Electrolytes for Sodium Batteries, Faezeh Makhlooghiazad, Cristina Pozo-Gonzalo, Patrik Johansson and Maria Forsyth.
6. Solid Electrolyte Interphase in Na-ion batteries, Le Anh Ma, Ronnie Mogensen, Andrew J. Naylor and Reza Younesi.
7. Batteries Containing Prussian Blue Analogue Electrodes, Colin D. Wessells.
8. The Design, Performance and Commercialization of Faradion’s Non-aqueous Na-ion Battery Technology, Ashish Rudola, Fazlil Coowar, Richard Heap and Jerry Barker.

http://www.iste.co.uk/book.php?id=1735

Edited by

Laure Monconduit, CNRS, University of Montpellier, France
Laurence Croguennec, CNRS, University of Bordeaux, France

ISBN : 9781789450132

Publication Date : March 2021

Hardcover 370 pp

165.00 USD

Commercialisation of High Energy Density Sodium-ion Batteries: Faradion's Journey and Outlook

Hi Everyone,

Our recent perspective article has published in Journal of Materials Chemistry A:

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/ta/d1ta00376c/unauth#!divAbstract

https://doi.org/10.1039/D1TA00376C

Many thanks to my co-authors! Great job!

Ashish Rudola,   Anthony J. R. Rennie,   Richard Heap,   Seyyed Shayan Meysami,   Alex Lowbridge,   Francesco Mazzali,   Ruth Sayers,   Christopher Wright  and  Jerry Barker 

Abstract:

There is no doubt that rechargeable batteries will play a huge role in the future of the world. Sodium-ion (Na-ion) batteries might be the ideal middle-ground between high performance delivered by the modern lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery, desire for low costs and long-term sustainability. To commercialise the Na-ion technology, Faradion was founded in 2011 as the world’s first non-aqueous Na-ion battery company. Over the years, we have made rapid progress in increasing the all-around performance of Na-ion batteries, benefitting from decades’ worth of industry experience and prior Na-ion as well as Li-ion academic research. The Faradion Na-ion chemistry can now exceed the energy densities of LiFePO4//Graphite Li-ion batteries with rapidly converging cycle lives, similar rate performance and charge acceptance. In addition, our technology makes use of lower materials costs, offers improved safety through the use of high flash point electrolytes and has the ability to be discharged to zero volts for storage and transportation. In this article, Faradion’s step-by-step progress in the Na-ion technology will be discussed together with a general picture of how our Na-ion chemistry compares with other Na-ion systems and commercially available Li-ion technology. Finally, the importance of starting experimental testing on new materials, keeping commercially-relevant protocols in mind, will be illustrated by clearly highlighting the drastic effects of some crucial experimental factors. By sharing such industry know-how, Faradion hopes researchers worldwide will adopt such experimental protocols as routine methodology in the laboratory. These simple measures can significantly shorten the path from a new invention to commercial application, while also ensuring that the battery-related literature conveys the true commercial feasibility of an invention or discovery to the general public.

Sodium-ion Batteries

Hi everyone,

The wikipedia page on Na-ion Batteries has been thoroughly updated and revised and now represents a really good introduction to the current status of this important, new energy storage technology:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium-ion_battery

The history of the technology is covered plus the background status from active materials through to current-day commercialization. A good summary of all the companies currently active in this space is given, including Faradion:

Faradion Limited: Founded in 2011 in the United Kingdom, their chief cell design uses oxide cathodes with hard carbon anode and a liquid electrolyte. Their pouch cells have energy densities comparable to commercial Li-ion batteries (140 – 150 Wh/kg at cell-level) with good rate performance till 3C and cycle lives of 300 (100% depth of discharge) to over 1,000 cycles (80% depth of discharge).The viability of its scaled-up battery packs for e-bike and e-scooter applications has been shown.They have also demonstrated transporting sodium-ion cells in the shorted state (at 0 V), effectively eliminating any risks from commercial transport of such cells. The company's CTO is Dr. Jerry Barker, co-inventor of several popularly used lithium-ion and sodium-ion electrode materials such as LiM₁M₂PO₄, Li₃M₂(PO₄)₃, and Na₃M₂(PO4)₂F₃ and the carbothermal reduction method of synthesis for battery electrode materials.

The future of energy storage is Sodium-ion!