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Title: A Highly Reversible Room-Temperature Sodium Metal Anode

Journal Article · · ACS Central Science
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2]
  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States, Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, United States

Owing to its low cost and high natural abundance, sodium metal is among the most promising anode materials for energy storage technologies beyond lithium ion batteries. However, room-temperature sodium metal anodes suffer from poor reversibility during long-term plating and stripping, mainly due to formation of nonuniform solid electrolyte interphase as well as dendritic growth of sodium metal. Herein we report for the first time that a simple liquid electrolyte, sodium hexafluorophosphate in glymes (mono-, di-, and tetraglyme), can enable highly reversible and nondendritic plating–stripping of sodium metal anodes at room temperature. High average Coulombic efficiencies of 99.9% were achieved over 300 plating–stripping cycles at 0.5 mA cm–2. In this study, the long-term reversibility was found to arise from the formation of a uniform, inorganic solid electrolyte interphase made of sodium oxide and sodium fluoride, which is highly impermeable to electrolyte solvent and conducive to nondendritic growth. As a proof of concept, we also demonstrate a room-temperature sodium–sulfur battery using this class of electrolytes, paving the way for the development of next-generation, sodium-based energy storage technologies.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC03-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1224874
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1230059
Journal Information:
ACS Central Science, Journal Name: ACS Central Science Vol. 1 Journal Issue: 8; ISSN 2374-7943
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 565 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science