Abstract
Room temperature sodium-sulfur batteries have been considered to be potential candidates for future energy storage devices because of their low cost, abundance, and high performance. The sluggish sulfur reaction and the “shuttle effect” are among the main problems that hinder the commercial utilization of room temperature sodium-sulfur batteries. In this study, the performance of a hybrid that was based on nitrogen (N)-doped carbon nanospheres loaded with a meagre amount of Fe ions (0.14 at.%) was investigated in the sodium-sulfur battery. The Fe ions accelerated the conversion of polysulfides and provided a stronger interaction with soluble polysulfides. The Fe-carbon nanospheres hybrid delivered a reversible capacity of 359 mAh·g−1 at a current density of 0.1 A·g−1 and retained a capacity of 180 mAh·g−1 at 1 A·g−1, after 200 cycles. These results, combined with the excellent rate performance, suggest that Fe ions, even at low loading, are able to improve the electrocatalytic effect of carbon nanostructures significantly. In addition to Na-S batteries, the new hybrid is anticipated to be a strong candidate for other energy storage and conversion applications such as other metal-sulfur batteries and metal-air batteries.
Highlights
Future energy needs to be cost-effective with sustainable production, as well as amenable to proper storage for on-demand use [1,2,3,4,5,6]
These results suggest that incorporating Fe into N-doped carbon nanospheres, even at an extremely at an extremely low content, is an effective approach to enhance the performance of the RT Na-S
The Fe ions improve the chemical absorption of polysulfide and reaction kinetics, whereas the carbon framework acts as a continuous transport pathway
Summary
Future energy needs to be cost-effective with sustainable production, as well as amenable to proper storage for on-demand use [1,2,3,4,5,6]. On the surface of the anode, these long-chain polysulfides undergo redox reaction and form short-chain sulfides, which lead to severe capacity fading [25] These challenges impede the development of a high-performance RT. Transition-metal based electrocatalysts, low-cost high-performance electrocatalysts [43,44], have already demonstrated a great potential in the development of the RT Na-S battery [33,35] Such a strategy works on the basis that catalytic materials enhance the electrochemical redox kinetics by reducing electron and ion transfer resistance resulting in decreased solubility of the polysulfides in the organic electrolyte.
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