The comparison between lithium battery and nano battery
Recently, the quotation of battery-grade lithium carbonate continues to hit a record high, and the lithium industry is also full of rumors. Although we have got rid of our dependence on oil and natural gas through new energy sources, we are still embarrassed by other countries at the level of lithium resources.
After all, photovoltaics can only be generated during the day, wind power and hydropower are seasonal, and the electricity generated must rely on energy storage (batteries) to store it. And the new term that has appeared recently: sodium battery, can it completely replace lithium battery?
First of all, compared with other resources, the reserves of lithium resources in the world are too small. However, our demand for lithium carbonate imports is very large, and the demand for new energy vehicles and energy storage in the downstream of the industrial chain is also very large, especially the demand for power batteries for new energy vehicles is strong, and the supply of power batteries is in short supply.
Although lithium battery recycling is a way to alleviate the shortage of lithium resources, the current situation of lithium battery recycling is not so optimistic. The development of sodium electricity came into being. Let’s compare the difference between sodium battery and lithium battery.
- In addition to the advantages of high and low temperature performance (higher capacity retention at low temperature), safety (not as easy to explode as lithium batteries), and better rate performance (faster charging speed), the biggest advantage of nanoelectricity is that of sodium electricity. Economical (i.e. cheap enough). The most competitive advantage is the low cost of raw materials. At present, the price of lithium carbonate is about 500,000+ yuan/ton, while sodium carbonate (soda ash) is only about 3,000 yuan/ton.
In addition, the working principles of sodium batteries and lithium batteries are similar, and they are mainly composed of positive electrodes, negative electrodes, electrolytes, separators, and current collectors. In comparison, the current mainstream layered oxides for sodium battery cathode materials use resources such as copper, iron, and manganese, which are much cheaper than nickel and cobalt for lithium battery cathode materials. Negative material soft carbon is cheaper than graphite.
Hard carbon has better performance than soft carbon, and it is currently a negative electrode material with more attention. On the current collector, aluminum foil can be used for the positive and negative electrodes of sodium electricity, which is also cheaper than copper foil. Taken together, the material cost of sodium batteries can be reduced by about 30% compared with lithium batteries.
- The disadvantages of sodium electricity mainly focus on energy density and cycle life.
Sodium is less energy dense than lithium. In other words, if the same battery capacity is to be achieved, the volume and mass of the sodium battery must be larger than that of the lithium battery.
In terms of cycle life, sodium batteries are not as good as lithium batteries.
Our country’s minimum standard for power batteries is that when the cycle life reaches 1,000 times, the battery capacity retention rate is not less than 80%. That is, after the battery is fully charged 1,000 times with 100% power, the battery capacity will decay to 80% at most (in fact, it is not completely scrapped by this time, but it should be replaced). Although the cycle life of sodium is not as good as that of lithium, it is also possible as an alternative.
