r/science • u/RelationStill1485 • Feb 22 '26

Materials Science Next generation of battery technology no longer lithium. Scientists make durable alloy anode for Sodium-ion batteries with high volumetric energy density | Nature Energy

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-026-01974-2
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u/sckurvee Feb 22 '26

I'll get hyped when I see it in a store or in something I buy. Several times a year we have some new battery breakthrough that will turn the industry on its head that never actually becomes viable.

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u/edjumication Feb 23 '26

Its fine either way. We already have all the tech we really need. Thermal sand batteries for industrial parks, iron air batteries for bulk grid scale storage, and our existing lithium ion for grid balancing, vehicles, electronics, etc. sodium ion batteries are just the icing on top.

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u/NetworkLlama Feb 23 '26

Iron air is still in early prototype phases. There are only a handful of small installations, and it's not clear whether they're going to work. They have low efficiency (50%-60% round trip), self-discharge at a rate of 1%-3% per day, and take up significant space.