High energy density Na-metal batteries enabled by a tailored carbonate-based electrolyte

Abstract

High-voltage sodium metal batteries (SMBs) offer a viable way toward high energy densities. However, they synchronously place severe demands on the electrolyte for the notorious reactivity of Na-metal and the...

Weak Solvent–Solvent Interaction Enables High Stability of Battery Electrolyte

“…In this way, the redox properties of the electrolyte components, including solvent, additive, and anion during the polarization, − as well as the recently proposed M + –solvent–anion complex formed during the desolvation process on the electrode surface, − have been widely studied to evaluate the electrolyte, since they can be highly influenced by the widely existing electrostatic interactions between M + , anions, and solvent molecules with uneven charge distribution. Then, varying the interactions of M + –solvent, M + –anion pair, and anion–solvent by changing the type and quantity of solvents, anions, additives, etc., have received significant attention recently to tune the electrolyte properties. − It is worth noting that solvent–solvent interaction has rarely been mentioned before, as such interaction is considered to be very weak, 1–2 orders of magnitude weaker than the ion–ion interaction between M + –anion and the ion-dipole interaction between M + –solvent .…”

High-Performance Alkali Metal Ion Storage in Bi2Se3 Enabled by Suppression of Polyselenide Shuttling Through Intrinsic Sb-Substitution Engineering

“…To effectively mitigate the environmental damage caused by overmuch carbon emission and alleviate the energy crisis induced by rapid depletion of fossil fuels, it is highly imperative to develop next-generation energy storage and conversion devices with high energy density, long service life, and fast charge–discharge ability. − As the pioneer and backbone for energy storage devices, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have received widespread attention during the last decades. − However, the limited global reserves of lithium resources, uneven distribution, and high cost cast a shadow over the further development of LIBs. , Fortunately, sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have been regarded as a potential candidate for LIBs owing to the much richer natural reserves of sodium than lithium in Earth’s crust, similar properties of sodium to lithium, and low cost. − However, because of the larger ionic radius of Na + (1.02 Å) than Li + (0.76 Å), − the reported SIBs typically suffer from sluggish reaction kinetics and poor electrochemical stability. , Despite huge progress achieved for the cathode materials of SIBs, ,− it still remains a huge challenge for the development in anode materials. To this end, it is highly urgent to exploit and develop advanced high-performance anode materials to meet the ever-increasing demands of SIBs for large-scale application in the future. ,− …”

Multifunctionalized Safe Separator Toward Practical Sodium‐Metal Batteries with High‐Performance under High Mass Loading

“…[7][8][9] Introducing metallic sodium as anode (defined as SMA) to develop sodium metal batteries (SMBs) is a promising electrolytes has also received extensive attention in the pursuance of high-energy SMBs by coupling with high-voltage cathodes. [27][28][29][30][31] Nevertheless, spontaneous chemical reduction in the cyclic and linear carbonate solvents will lead to the formation of unstable passivating films, resulting in large overpotentials and low CE of SMBs, [27][28][29][30]32] while serious safety hazards may also occur in some cases due to the flammability. Although adding expensive flame-retardant additives such as perfluoro-2-methyl-3-pentanone [33] and 1,1,1,2,2,3,4,5,5,5-decafluoro-3-methoxy-4-(trifluoromethyl)-pentane [34] can well restrain the exothermic processes upon heating to improve the safety, it cannot achieve functionalization on the SMA/electrolyte interface, which is insufficient to enable high-voltage SMBs with long lifespan.…”