Chinese engineers have created a new type of sodium-sulfur battery that could be a cheaper and safer alternative to lithium cells.

Lithium is being used as a key battery material in a growing number of electronic devices. But lithium batteries are proving to be a safety hazard and expensive due to their heating properties and difficulties in obtaining the material.

Researchers around the world are searching for battery materials that have better and more desirable properties.

Previous attempts to develop sodium-sulfur batteries have faced several practical obstacles, the biggest of which was the need for large amounts of sodium metal, which has hindered their widespread use.

These early designs also faced serious difficulties in creating the basic chemical reactions needed to generate electricity at normal temperatures.

In a study published in the journal Nature, scientists said that using a large amount of sodium metal in the anode (which is usually dozens of times higher than in typical lithium and sodium batteries) not only poses safety risks and increases costs, but also affects and reduces the available energy and power density.

The researchers modified the chemical reaction to create a high-voltage, anode-free battery that works effectively at room temperature.

According to them, the new design provides a discharge voltage of 3.6 volts, which is much higher than the approximately 1.6 volts of previous models.