The critical role of titanium cation in the enhanced performance of P2-Na 0.5 Ni 0.25 Mn 0.60 Ti 0.15 O 2 cathode material for sodium-ion batteries

• Published in: Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP Vol. 22; no. 35; pp. 19992 - 19998
• Main Authors: Zhang, Ding, Meng, Xiao-Meng, Zheng, Ya-Min, Wang, Xiao-Min, Xu, Shou-Dong, Chen, Liang, Liu, Shi-Bin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 16.09.2020
• ISSN: 1463-9076; 1463-9084
• DOI: 10.1039/D0CP02102D

Tremendous effort has been devoted to develop durable electrode materials for sodium ion batteries. This work focuses on enhancing the reversibility of a cathode material Na 0.5 Ni 0.25 Mn 0.75 O 2 by adopting the titanium cation doping strategy. The obtained P2-Na 0.5 Ni 0.25 Mn 0.60 Ti 0.15 O 2 material shows smooth charge–discharge curves upon suppressing the Na + /vacancy ordering effect via the partial substitution of Mn 4+ for Ti 4+ , and enhanced cycling performance. It exhibits a reversible capacity of 138 mA h g −1 at 0.5C, as well as a high rate capacity of 81 mA h g −1 at 5C between a cut-off voltage of 2 and 4 V, while long-term cycling stability is demonstrated with a capacity retention of 84% over 200 cycles. An enhanced cycling stability is also observed when the voltage is between 2 and 4.2 V. The feasibility of constructing a symmetrical Na-ion full cell with Na 0.5 Ni 0.25 Mn 0.60 Ti 0.15 O 2 as cathode and anode electrodes is also demonstrated. The titanium cation doping results in reduced charge transfer impedance and an enhanced sodium cation diffusion coefficient, thus suggesting an efficient strategy to obtain a durable cathode material for sodium ion batteries.