Abstract
Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are in the spotlight because of their potential use in large-scale energy storage devices due to the abundance and low cost of sodium-based materials. There are many SIB cathode materials under investigation but only a few candidate materials such as carbon, oxides and alloys were proposed as anodes. Among these anode materials, hard carbon shows promising performances with low operating potential and relatively high specific capacity. Unfortunately, its low initial coulombic efficiency and high cost limit its commercial applications. In this study, low-cost maple tree-biomass-derived hard carbon is tested as the anode for sodium-ion batteries. The capacity of hard carbon prepared at 1400 °C (HC-1400) reaches 337 mAh/g at 0.1 C. The initial coulombic efficiency is up to 88.03% in Sodium trifluoromethanesulfonimide (NaTFSI)/Ethylene carbonate (EC): Diethyl carbonate (DEC) electrolyte. The capacity was maintained at 92.3% after 100 cycles at 0.5 C rates. The in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that no peak shift occurred during charge/discharge, supporting a finding of no sodium ion intercalates in the nano-graphite layer. Its low cost, high capacity and high coulombic efficiency indicate that hard carbon is a promising anode material for sodium-ion batteries.
Highlights
The room-temperature sodium-ion battery was proposed as an alternative candidate for large-scale energy storage due to sodium’s abundance in the Earth0 s crust and its low cost [1,2,3].In addition, aluminum foil can be used in place of copper as the anode current collector to further decrease the cost because sodium does not alloy with aluminum [4]
We report the electrochemical performance of hard carbon derived from a precursor of maple trees branches as anodes for sodium-ion batteries
Two broad peaks, centered at approximately 29◦ and 51◦ are observed in the X-ray diffraction (XRD) (Co-Kα radiation) spectra of each of the three samples, which are close to the
Summary
Aluminum foil can be used in place of copper as the anode current collector to further decrease the cost because sodium does not alloy with aluminum [4]. The choices of anode materials for sodium-ion batteries are limited to carbonaceous materials, alloys, Ti-based oxides and some organic compounds. Alloy materials such as Sb/C [25,26], Sn/C [27], SnSb/C [28] and P [29,30] can deliver a high specific capacity, the destruction of their structure by large volume expansion during reaction with Na leads to cycling instability. Ti-based oxides that include Na2 Ti3 O7 [3,31], O3-layered
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