For decades, lithium-ion batteries have powered our phones, laptops, and electric vehicles. But lithium’s limited supply and volatile price have led the industry to seek more resilient alternatives. Enter: sodium-ion batteries.
They work much like lithium-ion ones: they store and release energy by shuttling ions between two electrodes. But unlike lithium, a somewhat rare element that is currently mined in only a handful of countries, sodium is cheap and found everywhere. Read why it’s poised to become more important to our energy future.
—Caiwei Chen
Sodium-ion batteries are one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 Breakthrough Technologies this year. Take a look at what else made the list.
CES showed me why Chinese tech companies feel so optimistic
—Caiwei Chen
I decided to go to CES kind of at the last minute. Over the holiday break, contacts from China kept messaging me about their travel plans. After the umpteenth “See you in Vegas?” I caved. As a China tech writer based in the US, I have one week a year when my entire beat seems to come to me—no 20-hour flights required.
CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, is the world’s biggest tech show, where companies launch new gadgets and announce new developments, and it happens every January. China has long had a presence at CES, but this year it showed up in a big way. Chinese companies showcased everything from AI gadgets to household appliances to robots, and the overall mood among them was upbeat. Here’s why.
This story was first featured in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter giving you the inside story of what’s going on in AI. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday.