02 July, 2025

N. Traškina Defends Dissertation on Sustainable Aqueous Sodium-Ion Batteries

On July 1, Nadežda Traškina, a PhD student at the FTMC Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, successfully defended her doctoral dissertation in the field of chemistry titled "Preparation and Characterization of Active Components for Aqueous Sodium Ion Insertion Batteries." Her scientific advisor was Dr Linas Vilčiauskas.

We sincerely congratulate our colleague on earning her PhD in Natural Sciences and taking a significant step forward in the field of sustainable energy research!

Traškina's dissertation focuses on aqueous sodium-ion insertion batteries – an economical, safe, and environmentally friendly alternative to lithium-ion batteries. Due to these advantages, sodium-ion batteries are particularly well-suited for use in stationary energy storage systems.

"The main goal of my work was to develop, prepare, characterize, and optimize the active components of sodium-ion batteries. Essentially, this is the first focused attempt to systematically investigate not only the active material itself but also the impact of other active battery components on the performance of aqueous sodium-ion batteries and their optimization methods," says Nadežda.

Her research systematically analyzed how various preparation parameters of composite electrodes affect their structural, morphological, and electrochemical properties. In parallel, she searched for aqueous electrolytes with greater stability and improved operational characteristics.

According to Traškina, her work went beyond laboratory experiments – she is proud to have contributed to a wide range of studies and publications and even prepared a patent application. "I'm very happy that I had the opportunity to work with exceptionally talented scientists and complete an internship abroad – it was an excellent experience."

This research makes a valuable contribution to global efforts in the transition toward more sustainable, safer, and environmentally friendly energy storage technologies.