Low cost fabrication of three-dimensional hierarchical porous graphene anode material for sodium ion batteries application

Abstract

The Sodium ion batteries (SIBs) have recently gained recognition as an intriguing alternative to LIBs mainly due to their potential cost advantage stemming from the natural abundance of Na resource. In this paper, a three-dimensional hierarchical porous graphene anode (3DHGA) was synthesized using low cost sodium chloride template by a simple spray dry method. The electrochemical performance of 3DHGA as SIBs was improved for advanced three-dimensional hierarchical structure. The 3DHGA exhibits excellent rate capability and cycling stability, delivering a capacity of 369.4 mAh g−1 at a low current density of 100 mA g−1, and retains a capacity of 253.1 mAh g−1 even at a high current density of 1 A g−1 after 500 cycles. The superior performance can be attributed to three-dimensional hierarchical porous microstructure, expanded layer spacing and high conductivity graphene sheets, which are capable of capturing sodium ions and reversibly through surface adsorption and fast electron transfer. The findings results are beneficial for the design and manufacture new type carbon based anode of SIBs.