Northvolt has developed a sodium-ion battery; the cell has been validated for a best-in-class energy density of over 160 Wh/kg at the company’s R&D and industrialization campus, Northvolt Labs, in Västerås, Sweden.

Northvolt’s validated cell is more safe, cost-effective, and sustainable than conventional nickel, manganese and cobalt (NMC) or iron phosphate (LFP) chemistries and is produced with minerals such as iron and sodium that are abundant on global markets. It is based on a hard carbon anode and a Prussian White-based cathode, and is free from lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite.

Prussian White is used in the cathode.

Leveraging a breakthrough in battery design and manufacturing, Northvolt plans to be the first to industrialize Prussian White-based batteries and bring them to commercial markets.

The sodium-ion technology, which has been developed together with research partner Altris, is intended to provide the foundation for Northvolt’s next-generation energy storage solutions. The low cost and safety at high temperatures make the technology especially attractive for energy storage solutions in upcoming markets including India, the Middle East and Africa.

Prussian White is a stable framework material with large pores making it highly suitable for the capture and storage of sodium ions. Altris has developed a method to produce Prussian White in a form ideal for use as a positive electrode material in sodium-ion batteries.

Prussian white (PW) is considered one of the most promising cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries because of its large ion diffusion channels, low lattice strain, facile preparation, nontoxicity, and low cost. Sun and You (2023)

The technology can be produced with locally sourced materials, providing a unique pathway for developing new regional battery manufacturing capacity entirely independent of traditional battery value chains.

Northvolt’s first generation of sodium-ion cell is designed primarily for energy storage, with subsequent generations delivering higher energy density opening opportunities to enable cost-efficient electric mobility solutions. It complements Northvolt’s product portfolio consisting of premium lithium-ion battery cells tailored for automotive customers, and energy-dense lithium-metal battery technology under development for aviation and high-performance vehicles at Cuberg, a Northvolt company based in San Leandro, California.

Resources

• ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 15 (38), 44599-44606 doi: 10.1021/acsami.3c08521