Scientists at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) in Bengaluru have made a significant breakthrough in India’s clean energy ambitions by developing a sodium-ion battery. This innovative battery can charge up to 80% in just six minutes and delivers over 3,000 charge cycles, making it a promising solution for electric vehicles, solar grids, drones, and rural electrification. The battery is based on a NASICON-type chemistry, which has been enhanced using novel material engineering techniques.
The team, led by Professor Premkumar Senguttuvan and Ph.D. scholar Biplab Patra, optimized the anode using three key strategies: nanosizing, carbon coating, and aluminum substitution. These techniques increase the surface area, reduce the distance sodium ions need to travel, and enhance conductivity, leading to faster and safer ion movement. The use of sodium, a widely available element in India, makes this innovation particularly significant, as it aligns with the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat mission to reduce dependence on critical mineral imports for green technologies.
The battery has undergone rigorous validation, including electrochemical cycling and quantum-level simulations, to test its performance, safety, and durability. The results show that the battery retains over 80% capacity after thousands of charge-discharge cycles, making it viable for long-term use. This development has the potential to address a key challenge in the energy storage sector, as lithium-ion batteries are efficient but expensive and resource-constrained.
The sodium-ion battery can be deployed in various applications, including grid storage, medium-range electric mobility solutions, drone operations, emergency backup systems, and decentralized clean energy applications in remote areas. Its ability to avoid thermal runaway, a key fire risk in lithium-based systems, makes it attractive for use in high-temperature environments. While commercial deployment is still some distance away, the discovery is already drawing attention within the scientific and energy policy communities.
The development of this sodium-ion battery comes at a time when global supply chains for lithium are under strain, with price volatility and geopolitical considerations affecting EV and battery storage markets. By contrast, sodium offers a more secure and sustainable raw material base for future battery manufacturing. If successfully scaled and commercialized, this new battery platform could play a critical role in enabling India’s transition to a clean, electrified future without depending on imported critical minerals.