A stable room-temperature sodium-sulfur battery

作者：Wei, Shuya; Xu, Shaomao; Agrawral, Akanksha; Choudhury, Snehashis; Lu, Yingying^*; Tu, Zhengyuan; Ma, Lin; Archer, Lynden A.^*

来源：Nature Communications, 2016, 7(1): 11722.

DOI：10.1038/ncomms11722

• NANOPARTICLE HYBRID ELECTROLYTES
• ELECTRICAL ENERGY-STORAGE
• LITHIUM ELECTRODEPOSITION
• KINETIC-PARAMETERS
• POLYSULFIDE
• CATHODE
• LIQUID
• ION
• ELECTROCHEMISTRY
• CONFINEMENT

High-energy rechargeable batteries based on earth-abundant materials are important for mobile and stationary storage technologies. Rechargeable sodium-sulfur batteries able to operate stably at room temperature are among the most sought-after platforms because such cells take advantage of a two-electron-redox process to achieve high storage capacity from inexpensive electrode materials. Here we report a room-temperature sodium-sulfur battery that uses a microporous carbon-sulfur composite cathode, and a liquid carbonate electrolyte containing the ionic liquid 1-methyl-3-propylimidazolium-chlorate tethered to SiO2 nanoparticles. We show that these cells can cycle stably at a rate of 0.5 C (1 C = 1675 mAh g(-1)) with 600 mAh g(-1) reversible capacity and nearly 100% Coulombic efficiency. By means of spectroscopic and electrochemical analysis, we find that the particles form a sodium-ion conductive film on the anode, which stabilizes deposition of sodium. We also find that sulfur remains interred in the carbon pores and undergo solid-state electrochemical reactions with sodium ions.

• 出版日期2016-6
• 单位浙江大学