Biochemistry-directed hollow porous microspheres: bottom-up self-assembled polyanion-based cathodes for sodium ion batteries

Abstract

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.

High‐Abundance and Low‐Cost Metal‐Based Cathode Materials for Sodium‐Ion Batteries: Problems, Progress, and Key Technologies

“…By using a biochemistry-directed synthesis strategy, they also obtained hollow porous Na 3.12 Fe 2.44 (P 2 O 7 ) 2 microspheres. [176] Niu et al employed porous graphene [177] and multiwalled carbon nanotubes [178] to enhance its electrochemical performance. Very recently, our group successfully synthesized a Na-rich Na 3.32 Fe 2.34 (P 2 O 7 ) 2 /C composite via an in situ carbon coating process (Figure 14d,e).…”

Synthesis, characterization and synergistic photocatalytic properties of yeast-assisted composite La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/TiO2

“…Among the template methods, biotemplating has drawn more attention in the eld of oxide material synthesis. 26,27 Among many bio-templating agents, yeast can easily be obtained in a large amount in a short time without environmental pollution. Simultaneously, it has a short generation time and can be easily incubated.…”

Systematic study on the discharge product of Pt-based lithium oxygen batteries

“…Rechargeable non-aqueous lithium oxygen (Li-O 2 ) batteries are considered one of the most promising systems to meet the current stringent requirements for power sources because of their extremely high theoretical specific energy, reaching to ten times higher than that of metal-ion batteries. [1][2][3][4] However, their performance has been largely limited by the high charge overpotential, resulting in a low round-trip efficiency and side reactions. The excessive charge potential is primarily induced by the undesirable discharge product Li 2 O 2 , which accumulates on the surface of the cathode during discharge.…”