NEXGENNA – Sodium-ion Batteries
NEXGENNA will develop the next generation of sodium-ion batteries (NIBs). Its mission is to surpass LFP-graphite by improving the energy storage, power, and lifetime of sodium-ion 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 already commercialised. They have promising cost, safety, sustainability and performance benefits when compared to lithium-ion batteries. They use widely available and 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 sodium-ion batteries have characteristics comparable to lithium iron phosphate (LFP), suggesting that even mid-range automotive applications are possible.
NEXGENNA is taking a multi-disciplinary approach incorporating fundamental chemistry through scale-up and cell manufacturing. Many models of future renewable networks encompass storage for increased network resilience and to ensure the efficiency of small-scale renewable sources. The widespread use of commercial NIBs that this project will facilitate, would aid the realisation of these models, and fulfil the need for low-cost electric transport options in the densely populated and polluted conurbations of developing economies.
Timeline with milestone/deliverables (to September 2026)
- Discover and develop innovative electrode materials for higher performance, lower cost sodium-ion batteries.
- 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 academic-industrial links across the value chain. Industry 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.
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)
University of Cambridge
Imperial College London
Lancaster University
University of Birmingham
Research Organisations, Facilities and Institutes
ISIS Neutron and Muon Source (STFC)
+ 5 Industry Partners
