An article on Na-ion battery research in the high-impact Carbon journal

A group of researchers from our Department (Ava Rajh, Doc. Dr Klemen Bučar, Prof. Dr Iztok Arčon, Dr Marko Petric and Dr Matjaž Kavčič) together with colleagues from the Institute of Chemistry published an article in Carbon journal entitled "Structural and chemical analysis of hard carbon negative electrode for Na-ion battery with X-ray Raman scattering and solid-state NMR spectroscopy". The article reports on the detailed structural and chemical characterization of the anode in a sodium-ion battery at different points in its cycle. Since the absorption edge energies of light elements are in the soft X-ray region (below 1keV), their study by direct measurement of X-ray absorption is limited only to the surface of the sample. Measurements of the absorption edges of carbon and sodium in large samples were successfully carried out using X-ray Raman scattering, where the energy of incident and scattered photons are located in the region of hard X-ray light with high penetration. The measurements were performed at beamline P01 of the PETRAIII synchrotron at the DESY Institute in Hamburg.

Research on Na-ion batteries is crucial in the context of the green transition, as, compared to conventional Li-ion batteries, they have significant advantages such as high energy density, improved safety and lower environmental impact.