Antimony (Sb) electrodes are an ideal anode material for sodium-ion batteries, which are an attractive energy storage system to support grid-level energy storage. These anodes have high thermal stability, good rate performance, and good electronic conductivity, but there are limitations on the fundamental understanding of phases present as the material is sodiated and desodiated. Therefore, detailed investigations of the impact of the structure-property relationships on the performance of Sb electrodes are crucial for understanding how the degradation mechanisms of these electrodes can be controlled. Although significant work has gone into understanding the sodiation/desodiation mechanism of Sb-based anodes, the fabrication method, electrode composition and experimental parameters vary tremendously and there are discrepancies in the reported sodiation/desodiation reactions. Here we report the use of electrodeposition and slurry casting to fabricate Sb composite films to investigate how different fabrication techniques influence observed sodiation/desodiation reactions. We report that electrode fabrication techniques can dramatically impact the sodiation/desodiation reaction mechanism due to mechanical stability, morphology, and composition of the film. Electrodeposition has been shown to be a viable fabrication technique to process anode materials and to study reaction mechanisms at longer lengths scales without the convolution of binders and additives.
As the number of markets, as well as the overall market size, for rechargeable batteries continues to grow, it is clear that there is no one perfect battery to suit every application. In the best case, we would have batteries that store a very large amount of energy per unit mass or volume (energy density), can charge and discharge very quickly (power density), can cycle many times with very low loss of efficiency (cycle life), and are safe. Ideally, such a battery would be made from Earth-abundant, recyclable, sustainably mined or made materials, and could be scaled using inexpensive, safe manufacturing. There is, as of now, no such battery. Because we do not have a battery that is one size fits all, the wide range of potential applications for energy storage is a significant driving force for discovering and implementing a diversity of new battery chemistries to meet a wide range of requirements. In this Interface article, we describe the use of electrodeposition as a synthesis method for battery materials to enable and accelerate the design, understanding, and optimization of electrodes for sodium ion and sodium metal rechargeable batteries for applications where cost is more important than the overall weight of the battery.
Testing sodium battery technology relies on a half-cell setup with sodium metal as the counter electrode. Herein, we show that sodium metal reacts with conventional carbonate electrolyte to form the...
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