Emerging Battery Technologies: Polymer and Sodium-Ion Experiments Promise Alternatives to Li-Ion
Lithium-ion batteries still dominate the EV and energy storage landscape and likely for a long time despite shorter duration limitations and higher fire dangers.
New battery chemistry breakthroughs, however, are showing that that long-duration, weather-resistant and safety viability may not be a pipe dream. Researchers at Texas A&M University and Boston-based startup Alsym are heralding separate breakthroughs with non-lithium technologies.
The Texas A&M design utilizes a polymer-based battery prototype which shows the promise of operating through the coldest of conditions. Freezing weather is one of the many thorny issues for battery chemistry so far.
“We saw exactly this issue in the cold snap in Chicago in 2024, where electric vehicle batteries were so cold that they did not charge at their powering stations,” Dr. Jodie Lutkenhaus, professor of chemical engineering and associate dean for research at the Texas A&M College of Engineering, said in a university statement shared with EnergyTech.com.
The new design and chemistry in Texas A&M’s research focused on redox-active, polymer-based and dual-ion batteries, according to the study posted on the Journal of Materials Chemistry website. The new design was proven capable of functioning and maintaining charge in temperatures as low as 40 degrees below zero, according to the release.
“We’re able to do this because we replace the liquid electrolyte that freezes with a different electrolyte that does not,” Lutkenhaus said. “We also replace the hard inorganic materials that are sluggish at low temperatures with soft polymer materials that are a bit faster.”
The Texas A&M battery reportedly maintained 85% of its capacity at 0 degrees Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) and 55% at minus 40*C. As with everything that contracts in colder environments, the movement of ions slows as the temperature drops.
Meanwhile, sodium-ion battery chemistries continue to make inroads into greater capacity and duration as an alternative to lithium-ion. Peak Energy is working on the 3.5-MWh SolarTAC pilot in Colorado, while Jupiter Power is scaling up its anticipated 720-MWh project by 2027.
Alsym Energy, which has raised $110 million in funding so far, has published a new sodium-ion white paper that assesses the potential of its battery chemistry this year. The modeling done by Alsym and partners could indicate that capacity throughput and cooling costs could improve over lithium iron phosphate chemistries.
“As safety concerns grow and BESS operating conditions become more extreme, sodium pyrophosphate (NFPP) maintains performance under demanding duty cycles and high temperatures,” reads the Alsym white paper, noting the fire dangers commonly understood about lithium ion. “Where high energy density lithium batteries require extensive cooling infrastructure, NFPP operates reliably across extreme temperatures. The newest generation of this technology is purpose built to eliminate thermal runaway pathways entirely, delivering true non-flammability alongside high performance.”
How is NFPP so much more heat-resistant than lithium ion while also showing some promise of better capacity utilization in extreme cold?
At Texas A&M, research explored the use of carbon-fiber weaves instead of metal as the current collector. This creates a “structural battery” with both sustainable charge and mechanical strength capabilities.
“By building batteries that act as part of the structure, we can reduce weight and improve durability at once,” A&M professor Lutkenhaus said.
The Alsym white paper is still small sample size of use case learning, but the focus on polyanionic chemistry is not far from lithium iron phosphates in formulation but does not seem to create the same thermal runaway danger, can offer more cycles in charge and discharge lifecycle while also highlighting that supply chain abundance of sodium is greater than lithium for U.S. manufacturers
Click here to see the Alsym white paper. For more coverage on next-gen battery chemistry innovations, check out our EnergyTech.com Battery Innovations page.
About the Author
Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor
Managing Editor
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Rod Walton has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World.
EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.