A research group from Skoltech’s Energy Center led by Associate Professor Stanislav Fedotov has become one of four winners in the Russian Science Foundation grant competition honoring outstanding Russian scientist Evgeny Pavlovich Velikhov. The group will receive annual funding of 100 million rubles until 2029 to develop a technology for producing sodium-ion batteries with specified properties for Production Association “Electrochemical Plant.”

The results were announced at the event attended by members of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Science Foundation including Advisor to the President of Russia Andrey Fursenko, President of NRC Kurchatov Institute Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Gennady Krasnikov, Deputy General Director of the Russian Science Foundation Andrey Blinov, as well as other state and public figures. The idea of holding this contest was proposed by President Vladimir Putin at the Future Technologies Forum in February 2025. Grants are aimed at implementing projects that meet the needs of qualified customers over the period 2025-2029, with possible extension of the project implementation term by three years.

The competition was held across four lots. Skoltech’s project received support within the first lot initiated by the Krasnoyarsk Region. The qualified customer is Production Association “Electrochemical Plant” — one of Russia’s leading producers of enriched uranium products and supplier of services for uranium isotope separation both domestically and globally. Today, the company prioritizes developing advanced technologies for electrochemical energy storage.

The goal of the project proposed by Skoltech is to develop and optimize a technology for obtaining cathode and anode materials, electrolytes, and cell assembly for sodium-ion batteries with energy capacity starting from 15 Wh and specific energy density no less than 130 Wh/kg. The project includes selecting and studying promising compositions of active materials and electrolytes, scaling up synthesis technologies of active components to not less than 500 kg per year, and fabricating and testing prototype battery cells meeting specifications set by the qualified customer.

Key implementers include employees of Skoltech’s Energy Center for Energy Technologies (Research Scientist Anatoly Volkov, Assistant Professor Olga Shmatova, and their colleagues), teams from Lomonosov Moscow State University (Chemistry Department), Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, and the Federal Scientific Centre of Collective Use Systems of the Krasnoyarsk Science Centre SB RAS. Support for project implementation will also be provided by Anna Starkova, Head of Incubation and Acceleration at Skoltech’s Entrepreneurship Center.

Sodium-ion batteries developed under the project feature a balanced combination of energy density, stability, power characteristics, and operating temperatures, making them competitive against global counterparts. Special attention will be given to independent verification of performance indicators, reproducibility of characteristics, and compliance with requirements of the qualified customer and potential industrial partners.

The project will involve the development of a technological package for sodium-ion batteries that is based on accessible resources and components, along with creating human capital capable of establishing localized production of sodium-ion batteries in the future within the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Region.