Researchers from Stanford University have developed an inexpensive alternative to lithium-ion batteries that could better help us prepare for a renewable energy future. The group was able to create a sodium-based battery that can store the same amount of energy as a lithium-based battery at less than 80 percent of the cost. Other researchers have created sodium-based batteries in the past, but this new approach promises to be more cost-effective.

“Nothing may ever surpass lithium in performance,” said chemical engineer Zhenan Bao “But lithium is so rare and costly that we need to develop high-performance but low-cost batteries based on abundant elements like sodium.”

The sodium in the Stanford battery binds to a compound called myo-inositol, an organic compound found in household products like baby formula. And, just as sodium is much more abundant than lithium, myo-inositol can easily be derived from rice bran or found in the byproducts made during the process of milling corn. This will help to make materials gathering cost-effective.