People at the University of electronic science and technology of china turned Chinese liquor baijiu into a high performance starting material for anode for sodium-ion batteries which they say is the next generations next energy storage solution. Baijiu or shaijiu is a popular chinese liquor it is made from wheat grain or rice and it taste good and the alcohol content is 3 to 60 percent. Over time, this drink has become super popular for people visiting China. But a team led by Professor Liu Xingquan from UESTC had a different idea. They studied the leftover stuff from making the liquor and used it to help make sodium-ion batteries store energy better. Sodium-ion batteries are a cheaper and safer way to store energy. But since sodium ions are bigger than lithium ions, the anode (the positive part of the battery) needs to have bigger holes inside compared to the ones used in lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries use graphene for their anodes, but sodium-ion batteries use hard carbon instead. The problem is that hard carbon doesn’t charge very well, which makes the battery work less effectively. Plus, when ions keep going in and out, the tiny holes in the hard carbon can break down, making the battery hold less energy and not last as long
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You can contact the UESTC at https://en.uestc.edu.cn/index/Contact_Us.htm
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