Engineering Na+-layer spacings to stabilize Mn-based layered cathodes for sodium-ion batteries

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 4903
• Main Authors: Zuo, Wenhua, Liu, Xiangsi, Qiu, Jimin, Zhang, Dexin, Xiao, Zhumei, Xie, Jisheng, Ren, Fucheng, Wang, Jinming, Li, Yixiao, Ortiz, Gregorio F., Wen, Wen, Wu, Shunqing, Wang, Ming-Sheng, Fu, Riqiang, Yang, Yong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 12.08.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/131; 147/135; 147/143; 639/301/299/891; 639/638/161/891; Alkali metals; Batteries; Cathodes; Discharge; Electrochemistry; Electrode materials; Electrodes; Humanities and Social Sciences; Lithium; Manganese; Metal oxides; Morphology; multidisciplinary; Oxides; Phase transitions; Rechargeable batteries; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Shale; Sodium; Sodium-ion batteries; Transition metal oxides
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25074-9

Layered transition metal oxides are the most important cathode materials for Li/Na/K ion batteries. Suppressing undesirable phase transformations during charge-discharge processes is a critical and fundamental challenge towards the rational design of high-performance layered oxide cathodes. Here we report a shale-like Na x MnO 2 (S-NMO) electrode that is derived from a simple but effective water-mediated strategy. This strategy expands the Na + layer spacings of P2-type Na 0.67 MnO 2 and transforms the particles into accordion-like morphology. Therefore, the S-NMO electrode exhibits improved Na + mobility and near-zero-strain property during charge-discharge processes, which leads to outstanding rate capability (100 mAh g −1 at the operation time of 6 min) and cycling stability (>3000 cycles). In addition, the water-mediated strategy is feasible to other layered sodium oxides and the obtained S-NMO electrode has an excellent tolerance to humidity. This work demonstrates that engineering the spacings of alkali-metal layer is an effective strategy to stabilize the structure of layered transition metal oxides. Suppressing phase transitions is crucial for the layered lithium/sodium transition metal oxide cathodes in batteries. Here, the authors report a water-mediated strategy to mitigate the phase transitions and boost electrochemical performances of manganese-based layered cathodes for cost-effective Na-ion batteries.