A team at Argonne has made important strides in resolving this issue with a new design for a sodium-ion oxide cathode. It is ...

its freshly exposed shiny surface rapidly turns dull as a thin layer of sodium oxide forms: Other metals may oxidise more slowly. Gold and other very unreactive metals do not oxidise in air at all.

More information: Yi-Feng Liu et al, An air-stable single-crystal layered oxide cathode based on multifunctional structural modulation for high-energy-density sodium-ion batteries, Science China ...

Lithium, Li Fizzes steadily; slowly becomes smaller until it disappears Sodium, Na Fizzes rapidly ... This forms a white oxide, which covers the surface. The metal below the surface does not ...