Dandelion-shaped manganese sulfide in ether-based electrolyte for enhanced performance sodium-ion batteries

• Published in: Communications chemistry Vol. 1; no. 1
• Main Authors: Pham, Duong Tung, Sambandam, Balaji, Kim, Sungjin, Jo, Jeonggeun, Kim, Seokhun, Park, Sohyun, Mathew, Vinod, Sun, Yang-Kook, Kim, Kwangho, Kim, Jaekook
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 15-11-2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/301/299/886; 639/4077/4079/891; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chemistry/Food Science; Clean energy; Current density; Electrical resistivity; Electrode materials; Electrodes; Electrolytes; Energy storage; Manganese; Performance enhancement; Rechargeable batteries; Sodium; Sodium-ion batteries; Solid electrolytes; Storage systems; System effectiveness
• ISSN: 2399-3669; 2399-3669
• DOI: 10.1038/s42004-018-0084-1

Metal sulfide materials serve as environment-friendly, sustainable, and effective electrode materials for green-energy storage systems. However, their capacity-fading issues related to low electrical conductivity and drastic volume changes during electrochemical cycling have generally limited their application to sodium ion batteries. Here we show that with the combination of an ether-based NaPF
6
/diglyme electrolyte, the dandelion-shaped manganese sulfide electrode displays enhanced reversible capacity, cycle life, and rate capability. The capacity of 340 mAh g
−1
is maintained over more than 1000 cycles at a current density of 5.0 A g
−1
. Furthermore, discharge capacities of 277 and 230 mAh g
−1
at 10 and 20 A g
−1
current densities, respectively, are obtained. Our work demonstrates the formation of a protective solid electrolyte interface layer along the surface of the primary seed particle that limits polysulfide dissolution and hence the preservation of the active material during reaction with sodium.
Metal sulfide batteries suffer from low electrical conductivity which limits their application in sodium ion batteries. Here, the authors report a manganese sulfide anode in sodium ion batteries with capacity of 340 mAh g
−1
maintained over more than 1000 cycles at a current density of 5.0 A g
−1
.