NEXGENNA: Sodium-ion Batteries
NEXGENNA will develop the next generation of sodium-ion batteries (NIBs). Its mission is to surpass LFP/graphite technology by improving the energy storage, power and lifetime of sodium-ion cells, while maintaining sustainability, safety and cost advantages.
Future renewable networks require resilient, efficient storage systems. Widespread adoption of NIBs – facilitated by this project – will support these models and meet the demand for affordable electric transport, especially in dense, polluted urban areas. Sodium-ion batteries are an emerging battery technology with the first products now commercialised and showing promising cost, safety, sustainability and performance advantages compared to lithium-ion batteries. They rely on abundant, inexpensive raw materials and existing lithium-ion production methods, promising rapid scalability. NIBs are an attractive prospect in meeting global demand for carbon-neutral energy storage, where lifetime operational cost, not weight or volume, is the overriding factor. Increasingly, NIBs have characteristics comparable to lithium iron phosphate (LFP), suggesting that low-range to mid-range automotive applications are possible.
NEXGENNA uses a multi-disciplinary approach incorporating fundamental chemistry through scale-up and cell manufacturing. Many models of future renewable networks include use of battery energy storage for increased network resilience and to ensure the efficiency of smallscale renewable sources. The widespread use of commercial NIBs that this project will facilitate would aid the realisation of these models and enable low-cost electric transport and energy storage options for developing economies.
Timeline with milestone/deliverables (to September 2026)
- Discover and develop innovative electrode materials for higher performance, lower cost NIBs.
- Discover and develop next-generation electrolyte materials, giving higher sodium mobility and therefore higher power.
- Advance the understanding of interface formation and cell degradation to extend cycle life.
- Optimise key industry-relevant materials for scale-up.
- Demonstrate nascent NEXGENNA technology in pouch cells.
- Improve the industrial state-of-the-art by delivering a novel, sustainable, low-cost, pouch-cell design.
Project innovations
The project benefits from strong academicindustrial links where partners bring strengths in terms of materials, cell fabrication and electrode manufacturing. By integrating world-class research and industrial collaboration, NEXGENNA will position the UK at the forefront of sustainable energy storage for the 21st century.
A portion of NEXGENNA is funded by the UK government as part of the Ayrton Challenge on Energy Storage.
NEXGENNA consortium meeting, Robinson College, Cambridge. Photo by Nathan Pitt. ©University of Cambridge
Duration
1 October 2019 – 30 September 2026
Project funding
£19.0 million
Principal Investigator
Professor John Irvine
University of St Andrews
Project Leaders
Dr Nuria Tapia Ruiz
Imperial College London
Dr Robert Armstrong
University of St Andrews
Project Manager
Dr Scott Lilley
University of St Andrews
University Partners
University of St Andrews (Lead)
Imperial College London
Lancaster University
University of Birmingham
University of Cambridge
Research Organisations, Facilities and Institutes
ISIS Neutron and Muon Source (STFC)
+ 5 Industry Partners
The Faraday Institution’s NEXGENNA project has been enabled thanks to funding from the Battery Innovation Programme, through the Department for Business and Trade and delivered by Innovate UK.
