A facile method to stabilize sodium metal anodes towards high-performance sodium batteries

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Qiongqiong Lu - , Chair of Metallic Materials and Metal Physics, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Ahmad Omar - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Ling Ding - , Chair of Metallic Materials and Metal Physics, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Steffen Oswald - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Martin Hantusch - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Lars Giebeler - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Kornelius Nielsch - , Institute of Applied Physics, Chair of Metallic Materials and Metal Physics, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)
  • Daria Mikhailova - , Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden (Author)

Abstract

Sodium metal is the ultimate anode for next generation high-energy-density sodium metal batteries due to its superior theoretical specific capacity, low redox potential, and natural abundance. However, sodium metal suffers from extreme and uncontrollable dendrite growth and gas evolution problems. These incidents result in a low coulombic efficiency and safety issues such as dangerous short circuits. Herein, an effective protective layer is fabricated on the Na metal anodeviaan extremely facile pretreatment method with 1,3-dioxolane. The protective layer exhibits fast interfacial transport and a lower resistance. Direct optical visualization shows that dendrite growth and gas evolution are suppressed due to the introduction of the protective layer. As a result, an outstanding cycling stability for 2800 h (1400 cycles) at 1 mA cm−2in a symmetric cell is obtained. Moreover, the full cell using the protected Na metal anode shows superior electrochemical performance in comparison to the untreated Na metal anode. Furthermore, large format protected Na metal anodes fabricated by spraying 1,3-dioxolane were demonstrated and successfully assembled in pouch cells, showing a stable specific capacity of around 95 mA h g−1. Thus, our work presents a facile, efficient and scalable protection strategy to stabilize Na metal anodes towards high-energy-density sodium batteries.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)9038-9047
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Materials Chemistry A
Volume9
Issue number14
Publication statusPublished - 14 Apr 2021
Peer-reviewedYes