Exceptional performance reported for battery materials and devices in the scientific literature is often measured under conditions that are not aligned with practical applications. Aiming to bridge ...the gap between academia and industry, this Comment advocates the best practices for gauging performance and proposes guidelines on measurements with respect to a list of key metrics such as capacity, cyclability, Coulombic efficiency and electrolyte consumption.
Sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) are considered to be a low‐cost complement or competitor to Li‐ion batteries for large‐scale electric energy storage applications; however, their development has been less ...successful due to the lack of suitable host materials to enable reversible Na+ insertion reactions. Prussian blue analogs (PBAs) appear to be attractive candidates for SIB cathodes because of their open channel structure, compositional and electrochemical tunability. In this paper, the authors present a comprehensive review on the recent advances in the development of PBA frameworks as SIB cathodes with particular attention to the structure‐performance correlation of the PBA materials, and discuss the possible strategies to address the problems present in the SIB applications of PBAs. Also, the development of the PBA frameworks for the insertion cathodes of other monovalent and multivalent ions is briefly introduced, with the aim of providing a new insight into the design and development of new host materials for the next‐generation advanced batteries.
This paper reviews the recent progress on the structural and electrochemical studies of Prussian blue analog (PBA) frameworks as Na+ insertion cathodes with a focus on the correlations between the lattice structure and the ion insertion properties of PBAs. Possible strategies for the future development of PBAs for sodium‐ion batteries and other multivalent ion batteries are proposed.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Turning on your P/C: An amorphous phosphorus/carbon (a‐P/C) composite was synthesized using simple mechanical ball milling of red phosphorus and conductive carbon powders. This material gave an ...extraordinarily high sodium ion storage capacity of 1764 mA h g−1 (see graph) with a very high rate capability, showing great promise as a high capacity and high rate anode material for sodium ion batteries.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Room-temperature Na-ion batteries have attracted great interest as a low cost and environmentally benign technology for large scale electric energy storage, however their development is hindered by ...the lack of suitable anodic host materials. In this paper, we described a green approach for the synthesis of Sn4P3/C nanocomposite and demonstrated its excellent Na-storage performance as a novel anode of Na-ion batteries. This Sn4P3/C anode can deliver a very high reversible capacity of 850 mA h g–1 with a remarkable rate capability with 50% capacity output at 500 mA g–1 and can also be cycled with 86% capacity retention over 150 cycles due to a synergistic Na-storage mechanism in the Sn4P3 anode, where the Sn nanoparticles act as electronic channels to enable electrochemical activation of the P component, while the elemental P and its sodiated product Na3P serve as a host matrix to alleviate the aggregation of the Sn particles during Na insertion reaction. This mechanism may offer a new approach to create high capacity and cycle-stable alloy anodes for Na-ion batteries and other electrochemical energy storage applications.
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3D graphene decorated NaTi2(PO4)3 (NTP@rGO) is successfully synthesized through a facile spray‐drying method. This NTP@rGO material can deliver high reversible capacity (130 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C), ...superior high‐rate rate capability (38 mAh g−1 at 200 C) and long cycling stability (77% capacity retention after 1000 cycles), suggesting its applicability as a high rate and cycle‐stable anode for the development of high‐power and long cycle life sodium ion batteries for energy storage applications.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
A Sb/C nanocomposite was synthesized and found to deliver a reversible 3 Na storage capacity of 610 mA h g(-1), a strong rate capability at a very high current of 2000 mA g(-1) and a long-term ...cycling stability with 94% capacity retention over 100 cycles, offering practical feasibility as a high capacity and cycling-stable anode for room temperature Na-ion batteries.
A honeycomb layered Na3Ni2SbO6 is synthesized as a cathode for sodium‐ion batteries. This new host material exhibits a high capacity of 117 mA h g−1, a remarkable cyclability with 70% capacity ...retention over 500 cycles at a 2C rate, and a superior rate capability with >75% capacity delivered even at a very high rate of 30 C (6000 mA g−1). These results open a new perspective to develop high‐capacity and high‐rate Na‐ion batteries for widespread electric‐energy‐storage applications.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Commercial development of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries is severely hindered by their insufficient cyclability, which is due to the loss of soluble lithium polysulfide intermediates generated ...during the discharge processes. To overcome this problem, considerable efforts have been devoted to designing novel micro- or nano-structured host materials, aiming to trap soluble polysulfide within the network. Herein, we report a new approach to construct a sulfur electrode by impregnating sulfur into the nanopores of covalent-organic frameworks (COFs). Our results clearly demonstrate that by using a 2D COF as a host material, e.g. CTF-1 (CTF: covalent triazine-based framework), the thus-prepared cathode can show a remarkable positive effect on the capacity retention of Li–S batteries. Considering the unique features of COFs, such as highly flexible molecular design and a controllable pore size, this proof-of-principle study provides new opportunities for materials scientists for tailoring cathode materials in Li–S batteries.
Hard carbon is one of the most promising anode materials for sodium‐ion batteries, but the low Coulombic efficiency is still a key barrier. In this paper, a series of nanostructured hard carbon ...materials with controlled architectures is synthesized. Using a combination of in situ X‐ray diffraction mapping, ex situ nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), electron paramagnetic resonance, electrochemical techniques, and simulations, an “adsorption–intercalation” mechanism is established for Na ion storage. During the initial stages of Na insertion, Na ions adsorb on the defect sites of hard carbon with a wide adsorption energy distribution, producing a sloping voltage profile. In the second stage, Na ions intercalate into graphitic layers with suitable spacing to form NaC
x
compounds similar to the Li ion intercalation process in graphite, producing a flat low voltage plateau. The cation intercalation with a flat voltage plateau should be enhanced and the sloping region should be avoided. Guided by this knowledge, nonporous hard carbon material has been developed which has achieved high reversible capacity and Coulombic efficiency to fulfill practical application.
An “adsorption–intercalation” (A–I) mechanism is established for Na ion storage by using a combination of in situ X‐ray diffraction mapping, ex situ electron paramagnetic resonance, electrochemical techniques, and simulations. The “A–I” mechanism means that Na ions adsorb on the defect sites of hard carbon producing a sloping voltage profile and subsequently intercalate into graphitic layers producing a flat low voltage plateau in the second stage.
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FePO4 nanospheres are synthesized successfully through a simple chemically induced precipitation method. The nanospheres present a mesoporous amorphous structure. Electrochemical experiments show ...that the FePO4/C electrode demonstrates a high initial discharging capacity of 151 mAh g–1 at 20 mA g–1, stable cyclablilty (94% capacity retention ratio over 160 cycles), as well as high rate capability (44 mAh g–1 at 1000 mA g–1) for Na-ion storage. The superior electrochemical performance of the FePO4/C nanocomposite is due to its particular mesoporous amorphous structure and close contact with the carbon framework, which significantly improve the ionic and electronic transport and intercalation kinetics of Na ions.
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