Sodium super ion conductor (NASICON)-type Na3V2(PO4)3 (NVP) has been seen as
an extremely
potential cathode material in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) because
it owns many prominent merits, like an open three-dimensional channel,
high-voltage platform, structural stability, etc. Nevertheless, NVP
is difficult to obtain excellent electrochemical performance at high
rates with the defect of low electronic conductivity, which leads
to the restriction of practical application. In this paper, a nitrogen-doped
carbon layer-coated Na3V2(PO4)3 composite material (NVP/NC) was synthesized by a simple sol–gel
method using urea as a nitrogen source. The further test proved that
NVP/NC has a better rate performance compared to NVP/C. The initial
reversible capacity of NVP/NC can reach 109.18 mAh g–1 at 1 C, and the discharge specific capacity can reach 88.3 mAh g–1, even when the ultrahigh current density is 50 C.
In addition, NVP/NC has excellent long cycle stability (the capacity
retention rate reaches 72.89% at 50 C after 8000 cycles, and the capacity
reduction rate per revolution is only about 0.0034%). Because the
N-doped carbon layer provides a surface channel for electron transmission
of NVP, the electronic conductivity is greatly enhanced, making NVP/NC
a better composite material for SIBs. Hence, this work offers a practical
process to solve the poor electronic conductivity issue of NVP.