Low-cost Earth-abundant Na-ion Storage (LENS) Consortium

 LENS
The LENS Consortium aims to discover, develop, and demonstrate a new class of sodium-ion batteries that match, and aspire to surpass, the specific energy and energy density of current graphite/lithium-iron-phosphate batteries.

In late 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded $50 million over the next five years to establish the Low-cost Earth-abundant Na-ion Storage (LENS) Consortium. LENS, funded by the DOE Vehicle Technologies Office, aims to discover, develop, and demonstrate a new class of sodium-ion batteries (NIBs). These NIBs will be designed to match or surpass the specific energy and energy density of current graphite/lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, while also having a long life and low cost. The Consortium’s goal is to minimize — and ultimately eliminate — reliance on critical elements. To achieve this goal, LENS will develop a comprehensive understanding of the challenges encountered in current NIB materials — including the role of the electrode, electrolyte, interfaces, inactive materials, and interactions at the device — enabling researchers to design a new generation of batteries that alleviate current performance limitations.

LENS has assembled a world-class team from the following national laboratories and universities:

National Laboratories
  • Argonne National Laboratory
  • Brookhaven National Laboratory
  • Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
  • Sandia National Laboratory
  • SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory 
Universities 
  • Florida State University
  • University of California San Diego
  • University of Houston
  • University of Illinois Chicago
  • University of Maryland
  • University of Rhode Island
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison
  • Virginia Tech

The LENS team collectively possesses decades of experience studying and developing novel materials for sodium-ion batteries (NIBs). Each member has been carefully chosen to fill a critical need to ensure rapid improvement to NIB technology. The team brings expertise in new material discovery, controlled synthesis, cost-effective scale-up, reproducible cell assembly from coin to 2-Ah pouch cells, comprehensive cell design and testing, multimodal characterization, technoeconomic analysis (TEA), and modeling across scales.

Publications
  1. Sodium-Ion Battery Cathode with Dominating Copper and Oxygen Redox Chemistry
    Arthur Ronne, Jue Liu, Yiman Zhang, Mengya Li, Seungmin Lee, Jing Wang, Gi-Hyeok Lee, Wanli Yang, Xiao-Qing Yang, Yu-chen Karen Chen-Wiegart, and Enyuan Hu, ACS Energy Lett. 2026, https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​2​1​/​a​c​s​e​n​e​r​g​y​l​e​t​t​.​5​c​03483
  2. Quantum Monte Carlo Approaches to Na Intercalation on Bilayer Graphene
    Hyeondeok Shin, Anouar Benali, and Christopher S. Johnson
    ACS Physical Chemistry Au 
    DOI: 10.1021/acsphyschemau.5c00025

 

LENS Consortium News