Sodium sulfur battery is one of the most promising candidates for energy storage applications. This paper describes the basic features of sodium sulfur battery and summarizes the recent development of sodium sulfur battery and its applications in stationary energy storage. The research work in the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SICCAS) on beta-Al2O3 ceramics and the sodium sulfur battery is also introduced. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.