Abstract
AbstractAntimony and tin are promising anode materials for sodium‐ion batteries due to their high theoretical sodium storage capacities. However, significant volume change during cycling limits their long‐term stability and rate performance. Composite engineering can minimize this problem. A versatile method for the synthesis of Sb nanoparticles inside the mesopores of carbon fibers prepared through electrospinning and subsequent carbothermal reduction is presented in this work. The mesopore architecture can host up to 61 wt% of Sb nanoparticles and buffer the volume changes during cycling. Smaller pores in the carbon provide the pathways for reversible insertion/extraction of sodium. This binder‐free material provides high rate capability and a long‐term cycling performance when used as an anode in half‐cells. When cycled at 0.5 A g−1, the composite shows an initial capacity of 520 mA h g−1 with 507 mA h g−1 remaining after 500 cycles. Even at a high current density of 20 A g−1, a capacity of 197 mA h g−1 is still achieved. Sn nanoparticles can be embedded in the mesopores of the carbon fibers by a similar method. These Sn‐based anodes also show remarkable electrochemical performance, indicating that this approach represents a generally applicable strategy for synthesizing advanced battery anodes.
Highlights
Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are prime candidates for energy storage due to their high working voltage, high energy density, and stable cycling performance.[1]
PAN transformed into nitrogen-doped carbon, and the Sb2O3 nanoparticles were reduced into metallic Sb nanoparticles, which are embedded into the carbon framework.[23]
Carbon fibers (CF) and Sb encapsulated carbon fibers (Sb-CF) were synthesized with an electrospinning method reported by Zhu et al.[22]
Summary
Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are prime candidates for energy storage due to their high working voltage, high energy density, and stable cycling performance.[1]. Even though downscaling of the sizes of the metallic alloy anode particles is an effective way to mitigate the volume incongruity, the cyclability remains limited by particle aggregation.[12] The latter is accelerated by the significantly higher surface energy, lower melting point, and changed redox potentials of nanoparticles in comparison to the corresponding bulk metal. These differences all have to be considered when downscaling of particle sizes is considered as the method to minimize pulverization of electrode materials. Good rate capability and long cyclability over 500 cycles are achieved
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