German researchers have used apple leftovers as a carbon-based active anode material to create a sodium-ion battery with the performance of lithium-ion.
Researchers Professor Stefano Passerini and Dr. Daniel Buchholz of the Helmholtz Institute Ulm of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology claim apple waste has the right electrochemical properties for use in sodium-ion batteries.
The pair reported that at the laboratory stage, the new active material reaches the same efficiency, cyclic stability, capacity and voltage as lithium-ion, but without the need of cobalt.
Using the carbon-based anode alongside a cathode made of layers of sodium oxides, researchers demonstrated a battery could reach more than 1,000 charge and discharge cycles of high cyclic stability and high capacity.
A statement read: “This active material goes without the expensive and environmentally hazardous element cobalt that is frequently used in active materials of commercial lithium-ion batteries.
“At the laboratory, the new active material, in which electrochemical energy storage proper takes place, reaches the same efficiency, cyclic stability, capacity, and voltage without any cobalt.
“Both materials mark an important step towards the development of inexpensive and environmentally-friendly sodium-ion batteries.”
The findings were published in the journals “ChemElectroChem” and “Advanced Energy Materials.”
Pic: Schematic structure of the layered oxides produced. (Photo: KIT/HIU)
