Increasing concerns regarding the sustainability of lithium sources, due to their limited availability and consequent expected price increase, have raised awareness of the importance of developing alternative energy-storage candidates that can sustain the ever-growing energy demand. Furthermore, limitations on the availability of the transition metals used in the manufacturing of cathode materials, together with questionable mining practices, are driving development towards more sustainable elements. Given the uniformly high abundance and cost-effectiveness of sodium, as well as its very suitable redox potential (close to that of lithium), sodium-ion battery technology offers tremendous potential to be a counterpart to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in different application scenarios, such as stationary energy storage and low-cost vehicles. This potential is reflected by the major investments that are being made by industry in a wide variety of markets and in diverse material combinations. Despite the associated advantages of being a drop-in replacement for LIBs, there are remarkable differences in the physicochemical properties between sodium and lithium that give rise to different behaviours, for example, different coordination preferences in compounds, desolvation energies, or solubility of the solid–electrolyte interphase inorganic salt components. This demands a more detailed study of the underlying physical and chemical processes occurring in sodium-ion batteries and allows great scope for groundbreaking advances in the field, from lab-scale to scale-up. This roadmap provides an extensive review by experts in academia and industry of the current state of the art in 2021 and the different research directions and strategies currently underway to improve the performance of sodium-ion batteries. The aim is to provide an opinion with respect to the current challenges and opportunities, from the fundamental properties to the practical applications of this technology.

Aqueous sodium-ion batteries (ASIBs) are aspiring candidates for low environmental impact energy storage, especially when using organic electrodes.I nt his respect, perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) is apromising anode active material, but it suffers from extensive dissolution in conventional aqueous electrolytes.Asaremedy, we here present anovel aqueous electrolyte,whichinhibits the PTCDAdissolution and enables their use as all-organic ASIB anodes with high capacity retention and Coulombic efficiencies.F urthermore,t he electrolyte is based on two,h ence "hybrid", inexpensive and non-fluorinated Na/Mg-salts,i t displays favourable physico-chemical properties and an electrochemical stability window > 3V without resorting to the extreme salt concentrations of water-in-salt electrolytes.A ltogether,t his paves the wayf or ASIBs with both relatively high energy densities,i nexpensive total cell chemistries,l ong-term sustainability,a nd improved safety.

As scientists within the field of battery research we may often find it quite difficult to match and trust the promises given in press releases and high-profile papers. Even though there are real breakthroughs, where the results indeed are as impressive as they are marketed to be, we may as often find the reporting of "revolutionary" results to omit critical aspects of the methods and materials used. The absolute majority of researchers do not actively pursue to present their science in any untrue fashion, but poor (ethical) judgement could affect anyone working long hours in a gloomy lab at dusk and at the same time feel being pressed for publications and citations. Here, we outline ten ways to make your results appear more attractive and groundbreaking than they actually are, especially to laypeople that might not appreciate the full range of difficulties associated with battery research. Consider it a light-hearted entry with respect to scientific quality in methodology and dissemination, that might assist you in looking for nebulous reporting practices in your own and your peers' work, but please do not consider it a guide, but a humorous contrast to the real publishing guidelines recently launched. [2][3][4] 1. Always compare your results against the state-of-the-art from 2010

Development of all‐organic aqueous energy storage devices (ESDs) is a promising pathway towards meeting the needs of technically medium/low‐demanding electrical applications. Such ESDs should favour low cost, low environmental impact, and safety, and thereby complement more expensive, high voltage, and energy/power dense ESDs such as lithium‐ion batteries. Herein, we set out to assemble all‐organic aqueous Na‐ion hybrid supercapacitors, exclusively using commercial materials, with the aim to provide a truly sustainable and low‐cost ESD. Overall, the created ESD delivers adequate technical performance in terms of capacity retention, Coulombic efficiency, energy efficiency, and energy/power density. Finally, we apply a straight‐forward and qualitative biodegradability method to the ESD.

Aqueous sodium-ion batteries (ASIBs) are aspiring candidates for low environmental impact energy storage, especially when using organic electrodes.I nt his respect, perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) is apromising anode active material, but it suffers from extensive dissolution in conventional aqueous electrolytes.Asaremedy, we here present anovel aqueous electrolyte,whichinhibits the PTCDAdissolution and enables their use as all-organic ASIB anodes with high capacity retention and Coulombic efficiencies.F urthermore,t he electrolyte is based on two,h ence "hybrid", inexpensive and non-fluorinated Na/Mg-salts,i t displays favourable physico-chemical properties and an electrochemical stability window > 3V without resorting to the extreme salt concentrations of water-in-salt electrolytes.A ltogether,t his paves the wayf or ASIBs with both relatively high energy densities,i nexpensive total cell chemistries,l ong-term sustainability,a nd improved safety.