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Na-ion batteries (NIBs) have attracted increasing attention given the fact that sodium is relatively more plentiful and affordable than lithium for sustainable and large-scale energy storage systems. However, the shortage of electrode materials with outstanding comprehensive properties has limited the practical implementations of NIBs. Among all the discovered anode materials, transition-metal sulfide has been proven as one of the most competitive and promising ones due to its excellent redox reversibility and relatively high theoretical capacity. In this study, double-morphology N-doped CoS/multichannel carbon nanofibers composites (CoS/MCNFs) are precisely designed, which overcome common issues such as the poor cycling life and inferior rate performance of CoS electrodes. The conductive 3D interconnected multichannel nanostructure of CoS/MCNFs provides efficient buffer zones for the release of mechanical stresses from Na ions intercalation/deintercalation. The synergy of the diverse structural features enables a robust frame and a rapid electrochemical reaction in CoS/MCNFs anode, resulting in an impressive long-term cycling life of 900 cycles with a capacity of 620 mAh g at 1 A g (86.4% theoretical capacity) and a surprisingly high-power output. The proposed design in this study provides a rational and novel thought for fabricating electrode materials.

Separators are vital parts of all lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), and they play a critical role in their thermal safety and electrochemical performance. Considering the low thermal stability and inferior electrolyte wettability of commercial polyolefin membranes, in this study, a novel thermotolerant polyimide aerogel (PIA) separator is designed. This is the first report on the use of chemically cross-linked PIA separators for LIBs. The outstanding porosity (78.35%) and electrolyte absorption (321.66%) of PIA separators contribute to the low internal resistance and outstanding electrochemical performance of LIBs, which can retain a high specific capacity of 118 mAh g −1 after 1000 cycles at a current density of 1 C. In addition, The LiFePO 4 |Li metal batteries with PIA separators are extremely stable at 90 °C (>300 cycles), and maintain stability even at 120 °C. More importantly, for pouch batteries, PIA separators result in higher thermal runaway temperatures compared with Celgard separators. In this paper, the pyrolysis mechanism and thermodynamic process of PIA separators are clarified by DFT calculations and in situ synchrotron vacuum UV photoionization mass spectrometry experiments.

Exploration for stable and high-powered electrode materials is significant due to the growing demand for energy storage and also challengeable to the development and application of Na-ion batteries (NIBs). Among all promising electrode materials for NIBs, transition-mental sulfides have been identified as potential candidates owing to their distinct physics-chemistry characteristics. In this work, CoS nanomaterials anchored into multichannel carbon nanofibers (MCNFs), synthesized via a facile solvothermal method with a sulfidation process, are studied as flexible free-standing electrode materials for NIBs. CoS nanoparticles uniformly distributed in the vertical and horizontal multichannel networks. Such nanoarchitecture can not only support space for volume expansion of CoS during discharge/charge process, but also facilitate ion/electron transport along the interfaces. In particular, the CoS@MCNF electrode delivers an impressively high specific capacity (537.5 mAh g at 0.1 A g), extraordinarily long-term cycling stability (315.7 mAh g at at 1 A g after 1000 cycles), and excellent rate capacity (537.5 mAh g at 0.1 A g and 201.9 mAh g at 10 A g) for sodium storage. Free-standing CoS@MCNF composites with mechanical flexibility provide a promising electrode material for high-powered NIBs and flexible cells.