Move over lithium: Sodium batteries could one day power a green economy

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By Robert F. Service, Science. 

Excerpt: Lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous, not just in earbuds, phones, and cars, but also in massive facilities that store renewable energy for when the Sun doesn’t shine or the wind dies down. But lithium itself is relatively scarce and available from just a few countries. A world that runs on renewable energy would need 200 times more battery capacity than exists today—and that probably means a different kind of battery. ...A decades-old technology may be rising to the challenge: batteries that use sodium rather than lithium ions to carry and store charge. Sodium is everywhere, in seawater and salt mines, so supply and cost aren’t a problem. But the metal isn’t as good at storing charge as lithium because its ions are three times bigger, hampering their ability to slip in and out of existing battery electrodes. Labs worldwide are developing new electrode materials to address that shortcoming, .... 

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