Development of High Capacity Na0.7(Ni0.4Mn0.4Co0.1Fe0.1)O2 Cathode Material for Sodium Ion Batteries

Abstract

Sodium ion battery (SIB) has great potential as sustainable large scale energy storage application compared to lithium-ion battery due to abundance and cost effectiveness of sodium. Na0.7(Ni0.4Mn0.4Co0.1Fe0.1)O2 as new cathode material for SIB is prepared by solid state reaction synthesis method. The structure of the new cathode material was characterized by X- ray diffraction using Co-Kα radiation. Morphologies and particle size range (0.37-1.9 microns) of the Na0.7(Ni0.4Mn0.4Co0.1Fe0.1)O2 cathode material have been identified by scanning electron microscope. Electrochemical performance of the cathode material for coin cell battery using sodium as anode and NaClO4 as electrolyte was examined in constant current mode. The material cycling performance showed very good reversibility between 2.0 – 4.3 V with reversible capacity of 202 mAh g-1 at 0.11 mA current. At C/10 reversible capacity of 191 mAh g-1 have been found. The prepared material shows considerable (40%) retention capacity after 45 cycle of charging and discharging with retention capacity of 79 mAh g-1. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis has been performed between 100 kHz to 10 mHz frequency range and after 10 cycles the resistance for grain and grain boundaries are found to be 26.20 Ω and 354.7 Ω respectively. Na0.7(Ni0.4Mn0.4Co0.1Fe0.1)O2 can be a promising cathode material for SIB as it shows very good charging and discharging characteristics with high reversible capacity.