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A rechargeable room-temperature sodium superoxide (NaO2) battery

Nature Materials volume 12, pages 228–232 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

In the search for room-temperature batteries with high energy densities, rechargeable metal–air (more precisely metal–oxygen) batteries are considered as particularly attractive owing to the simplicity of the underlying cell reaction at first glance1. Atmospheric oxygen is used to form oxides during discharging, which—ideally—decompose reversibly during charging. Much work has been focused on aprotic Li–O2 cells (mostly with carbonate-based electrolytes and Li2O2 as a potential discharge product), where large overpotentials are observed and a complex cell chemistry is found2. In fact, recent studies evidence that Li–O2 cells suffer from irreversible electrolyte decomposition during cycling3. Here we report on a Na–O2 cell reversibly discharging/charging at very low overpotentials (< 200 mV) and current densities as high as 0.2 mA cm−2 using a pure carbon cathode without an added catalyst. Crystalline sodium superoxide (NaO2) forms in a one-electron transfer step as a solid discharge product. This work demonstrates that substitution of lithium by sodium may offer an unexpected route towards rechargeable metal–air batteries.

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Figure 1: The general function principle of an alkali metal–oxygen battery.
Figure 2: Electrochemical characterization of Li–O2 and Na–O2 cells with a GDL cathode.
Figure 3: SEM images of the Na–O2 cell cathodes.
Figure 4: Analysis of the discharge products in Na–O2 cells.

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Acknowledgements

The research was supported by the BASF International Scientific Network for Electrochemistry and Batteries. P. Hartmann is grateful to Fonds der chemischen Industrie (FCI) for a scholarship. The authors thank M. Ante, B. Jache and C. Raiß for experimental support. We further thank H. Heidt, H. Weigand, G. Pfeiffer and S. Lember for technical support. We are indebted to M. Jansen (Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research) for providing phase-pure bulk NaO2 as a reference material.

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  1. Miloš Vračar

    Present address: Present address: BELLA, Institut für Nanotechnologie, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physikalisch-Chemisches Institut, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 58, 35392 Gießen, Germany

    Pascal Hartmann, Conrad L. Bender, Miloš Vračar, Jürgen Janek & Philipp Adelhelm

  2. BASF SE, 67056 Ludwigshafen, Germany

    Anna Katharina Dürr & Arnd Garsuch

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Contributions

P.A., P.H. and J.J. designed this study. P.H. and C.L.B. carried out the electrochemical experiments and XRD analysis. M.V. developed the metal–air cell set-up for the battery tests. P.H. developed the gas pressure set-up and conducted the SEM, EDS and Raman spectroscopy experiments. P.H., P.A. and J.J. analysed and discussed the results and wrote the manuscript. A.K.D. and A.G. contributed to the scientific discussion. P.A. and J.J. supervised the research project.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jürgen Janek or Philipp Adelhelm.

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Competing interests

A US-Provisional Patent Application (US 61/615901) directed to sodium oxygen cells as described in the manuscript has been filed by BASF SE with the USPTO. A.K.D. and A.G. are employees of BASF SE.

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Hartmann, P., Bender, C., Vračar, M. et al. A rechargeable room-temperature sodium superoxide (NaO2) battery. Nature Mater 12, 228–232 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3486

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