Rechargeable lithium-iodine batteries with abundant raw materials and low cost are promising electrochemical energy storage systems. Herein, we demonstrate that anchoring iodine to N-doped hollow carbon fold-hemisphere (N-FHS) is highly efficient to overcome slow kinetics and low stability of iodine cathode in lithium-iodine batteries. For the first time, significant effects of carbon framework architecture on the lithium storage performance of iodine cathode are studied in detail. Notably, the fold-hemisphere (N-FHS) is more effective than the similar architectures, such as hollow sphere (N-S) or hemisphere (N-HS), in modifying slow ion transport capability and fast structure deterioration. The superior property of iodine@N-FHS is associated with its highly porous structure and strong interconnection to iodine. The iodine deterioration mechanism in lithium-iodine battery is analyzed, and the deterioration processes of iodine in different carbon frameworks during cycling are investigated. This work opens a new avenue to solve the key problems in lithium-iodine batteries, allowing it an important candidate for energy storage.

The design of a freestanding electrode is the key to the development of energy storage devices with superior electrochemical performance and mechanical durability. Herein, we propose a highly-scalable strategy for the facile synthesis of a freestanding alluaudite NaFe(SO)@porous carbon-nanofiber hybrid film, which is used as a self-supported and flexible electrode for sodium ion batteries. By the combined use of electrospinning and electrospraying, the freestanding hybrid film is constructed in the form of sulfate nanoparticles enwrapped in highly porous graphitic-like carbon-nanofibers. The multimodal porous architecture of the freestanding hybrid film ensures its superiority in mechanical flexibility and structural stability during repeated electrochemical processes, which meets the long-standing challenge of practical application. Moreover, both the highly conductive and porous framework and the nanoscale particles are favorable for promoting fast electron/ion transport capability. Compared with other carbon based supports such as graphene (GA), carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and active carbons (ACs), the flexible carbon nanofiber shows better interaction with electrochemical active materials and superior electrochemical properties. It retains over 95% of the capacity after five hundred cycles at alternate rates of 40C and 5C, which demonstrates the superior ultralong time and high-rate cycling capability. Therefore, the present work provides a facile and highly scalable strategy for the design and fabrication of high-performance freestanding sulfate cathodes for advanced sodium ion batteries.

Freestanding 3D hybrid foam is a widely applicable, low cost and highly efficient architecture to construct high potential and ultra long life cathodes for sodium ion batteries.

Biochemistry-directed synthesis of functional nanomaterials has attracted great interest in energy storage, catalysis and other applications. The unique ability of biological systems to guide molecule self-assembling facilitates the construction of distinctive architectures with desirable physicochemical characteristics. Herein, we report a biochemistry-directed "bottom-up" approach to construct hollow porous microspheres of polyanion materials for sodium ion batteries. Two kinds of polyanions, i.e. Na3V2(PO4)3 and Na3.12Fe2.44(P2O7)2, are employed as cases in this study. The microalgae cell realizes the formation of a spherical "bottom" bio-precursor. Its tiny core is subjected to destruction and its tough shell tends to carbonize upon calcination, resulting in the hollow porous microspheres for the "top" product. The nanoscale crystals of the polyanion materials are tightly enwrapped by the highly-conductive framework in the hollow microsphere, resulting in the hierarchical nano-microstructure. The whole formation process is disclosed as a "bottom-up" mechanism. Moreover, the biochemistry-directed self-assembly process is confirmed to play a crucial role in the construction of the final architecture. Taking advantage of the well-defined hollow-microsphere architecture, the abundant interior voids and the highly-conductive framework, polyanion materials show favourable sodium-intercalation kinetics. Both materials are capable of high-rate long-term cycling. After five hundred cycles at 20 C and 10 C, Na3V2(PO4)3 and Na(3.12)Fe2.44(P2O7)2 retain 96.2% and 93.1% of the initial capacity, respectively. Therefore, the biochemistry-directed technique provides a low-cost, highly-efficient and widely applicable strategy to produce high-performance polyanion-based cathodes for sodium ion batteries.