Ultrahigh‐Rate Na/Cl₂ Batteries Through Improved Electron and Ion Transport by Heteroatom‐Doped Bicontinuous‐Structured Carbon

Abstract

Rechargeable sodium/chlorine (Na/Cl2) batteries are emerging candidates for sustainable energy storage owing to their superior energy densities and the high abundance of Na and Cl elements. However, their practical applications have been plagued by the poor rate performance (e.g., a maximum discharge current density of 150 mA/g), as the widely used carbon nanosphere cathodes show both sluggish electron‐ion transport and reaction kinetics. Here, by mimicking the sufficient mass and energy transport in a sponge, we report a bicontinuous‐structured carbon cubosome with heteroatomic doping, which allows efficient Na‐ion and electron transport and promotes Cl2 adsorption and conversion, thus unlocking ultrahigh‐rate Na/Cl2 batteries, e.g., a maximum discharge current density of 16,000 mA/g that is more than two orders of magnitude higher than previous reports. The optimized solid–liquid–gas (carbon–electrolyte–Cl2) triple interfaces further contribute to a maximum reversible capacity and cycle life of 2,000 mAh/g and 250 cycles, respectively. Our study establishes a universal approach for improving the sluggish kinetics of conversion‐type battery reactions, and provides a new paradigm to resolve the long‐standing dilemma between high energy and power densities in energy storage devices.

Fe3O4-doped mesoporous carbon cathode with a plumber’s nightmare structure for high-performance Li-S batteries

“…As shown in Fig. 1d , the appearance of five characteristic peaks confirmed the SP structure of SP-Fe 3 O 4 -C (with a Pm m symmetry) 27 . The unit cell parameter of SP-Fe 3 O 4 -C was a = 70 nm, which was close to the length of the cubic units ( L C = 72 nm) measured from the SEM image (Fig.…”

“…Therefore, the introduction of 3D continuous open channels and polar species (e.g., metal oxides) into PCPs is a desirable strategy for solving these problems. Recently, bicontinuous mesoporous structures have attracted much attention for use in energy storage applications 27 – 29 , because these structures provide 3D continuous frameworks and open mesochannels (Fig. 1a for illustration), which enable smooth mass transport into the deep internal areas of electrode materials and thus remarkably increase the accessibility of the inner active sites 30 , 31 .…”

Self-assembly of single-chain nanoparticles from block copolymers into inverse bicontinuous structures

“…Polymer particles with inverse bicontinuous structures have attracted considerable interest in the fields of catalysis, 1,2 templates, 3,4 biomaterials, 5,6 and energy storage and conversion systems [7][8][9][10] due to their highly ordered porous networks and large specific surface areas. 11 Amphiphilic block copolymers (BCPs) have been utilized to construct such structures via self-assembly through the design of their molecular configuration, which is similar to that of lipids in nature.…”

Enrichment of Chlorine in Porous Organic Nanocages for High-Performance Rechargeable Lithium–Chlorine Batteries

“…Recently, there has been an urgent pursuit of high-energy-density battery systems due to the rapid growth of electric vehicles and electronic products. − Rechargeable Li–Cl 2 batteries gradually attract people’s attention owing to their high energy density. − This kind of battery mainly consists of a Li/Li + negative electrode, a Cl – /Cl 2 positive electrode, and a SOCl 2 -based electrolyte, which could deliver a high discharge voltage of ∼3.5 V. However, cycling a Li–Cl 2 cell at a high specific capacity is still challenging, which restricts the energy density of the Li–Cl 2 battery. An important reason causing the failure of the Li–Cl 2 cell at a high cycling capacity is the insufficient supply of Cl 2 to the electrochemical reaction due to the weak interaction between cathode materials and Cl 2 molecules.…”