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Interfacial engineering to achieve an energy density of over 200 Wh kg−1 in sodium batteries

Nature Energy volume 7, pages 511–519 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Sodium-based batteries have attracted wide interests in the academic and industrial fields. However, their energy density is still lower than that of Li-based batteries. Here we report an initial anode-free Na battery with an energy density of over 200 Wh kg−1, which is even higher than that of the commercial LiFePO4||graphite battery. Through introducing graphitic carbon coating on the Al current collector and boron-containing electrolytes in the battery, we show that uniform nucleation and robust interphases enable reversible and crack-free Na deposition. Benefitting from the synergetic effects derived from the built cooperative interfaces, the cycling lifetime of the Na battery without applying additional pressure reaches 260 cycles, which is the longest life for large-size cells with zero excess Na. The insights gained from the Na plating/stripping behaviour and interfacial chemistry in this work pave the way for further development of Na batteries with even higher performance.

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Fig. 1: Sodium batteries with cooperative interfaces using a graphitic carbon coating as the current collector and BPG as the electrolyte.
Fig. 2: Current collectors and morphologies of Na plating and stripping.
Fig. 3: Selection and assessment of electrolytes and SEI/CEI films.
Fig. 4: Performance and mechanism of cooperative interfaces.
Fig. 5: Comparison among different kinds of Na-based batteries.
Fig. 6: Electrochemical performances and safety assessment of proposed Na batteries with cooperative interfaces.

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The data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its Supplementary Information files.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation (NSFC) of China (51725206, 52122214 and 52072403), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA21070500), the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2020006) and Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation (2212022).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Renewable Energy, Beijing Key Laboratory for New Energy Materials and Devices, Laboratory for Advanced Materials & Electron Microscopy, Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Yuqi Li, Quan Zhou, Suting Weng, Feixiang Ding, Xingguo Qi, Jiaze Lu, Yu Li, Xiao Zhang, Xiaohui Rong, Yaxiang Lu, Xuefeng Wang, Ruijuan Xiao, Hong Li, Xuejie Huang, Liquan Chen & Yong-Sheng Hu

  2. College of Materials Science and Optoelectronic Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Yuqi Li, Yu Li, Xiao Zhang, Hong Li & Yong-Sheng Hu

  3. HiNa Battery Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing, China

    Quan Zhou, Xingguo Qi, Yaxiang Lu & Yong-Sheng Hu

  4. Huairou Division, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Feixiang Ding, Yu Li, Hong Li & Yong-Sheng Hu

  5. Yangtze River Delta Physics Research Center, Liyang, China

    Xiaohui Rong, Yaxiang Lu, Ruijuan Xiao, Hong Li & Yong-Sheng Hu

  6. Tianmu Lake Institute of Advanced Energy Storage Technologies, Liyang, China

    Xuefeng Wang & Hong Li

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  1. Yuqi Li
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Contributions

Y.-S.H. conceived and designed this work; Yuqi L. prepared the materials and carried out the electrochemical measurements and calculations; Yuqi L., Q.Z. and Yu L. assembled the pouch cells and cylindrical cells. Yuqi L., S.W., F.D., J.L. and X.Z. carried out the ex situ or in situ characterizations and analysis; Yuqi L., Yaxiang L. and Y.-S.H. wrote the manuscript; all the authors participated in the discussion to improve the paper and made revisions of the whole manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yaxiang Lu or Yong-Sheng Hu.

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Competing interests

X.W. and H.L. are employed at Tianmu Lake Institute of Advanced Energy Storage Technologies. Q.Z., X.Q. and Y.-S.H. are employed at HiNa Battery Technology Co., Ltd.

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Nature Energy thanks Naoaki Yabuuchi and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Li, Y., Zhou, Q., Weng, S. et al. Interfacial engineering to achieve an energy density of over 200 Wh kg−1 in sodium batteries. Nat Energy 7, 511–519 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-022-01033-6

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