The CNU research team led by Professor Jun Young-si (School of Chemical Engineering) succeeded in developing an electrode material that can dramatically improve the storage performance of sodium ions as the world is seeking to find the next-generation of energy storage devices to replace lithium-ion batteries. Moreover, the technology is expected to provide an important framework for the development of sodium ion-based energy storage systems and electric vehicles.

According to the research team, research on the development of sodium ion batteries / capacitors to replace the widely used lithium-ion batteries is in full swing worldwide while it was difficult to develop a low-cost material for the quick and large storage of sodium ions.

After two years of research, the research team of Professor Jeon succeeded in synthesizing carbon electrode materials specialized for the storage of sodium ions by developing a synthetic method that can control the micro-structure of hard carbons. Triazine organic crystals were used as reaction templates to facilitate the insertion and desorption of sodium ions by increasing the size of the two-dimensional carbon crystals present in the hard carbons and increasing the inter-layer spacing. It is intended to make the insertion and detachment of sodium ions easier and create the ultimate global solution for sodium ion storage capacity.

The research accomplishments were published in the online edition of the ACS Nano (Impact factor: 13.903, Top 5.973% of JCR field), the journal of the American Chemistry Society.