posted on 2021-05-28, 07:13authored byCheryldine
Q. X. Lim, Zhi-Kuang Tan
Prussian
blue (PB) and its analogues are promising materials for
sodium-ion battery cathodes because of their high working potentials,
high theoretical capacity, and low toxicity. Prussian white (PW),
which is the fully reduced and sodiated form of PB, could significantly
improve the manufacturability of commercial batteries as it circumvents
the requirement of a reactive sodium-loaded anode in cell assembly.
However, previous preparations of PW require a high-temperature, high-pressure,
and oxygen-free environment, and their reported performance in battery
cathodes have been modest so far. Here, we report a mild, low-temperature
synthesis of PW, using a common sodium borohydride reducing agent
in our reaction. We achieved PW with a remarkably high specific capacity
of 169 ± 4 mA h/g at 1C in a sodium-ion half-cell battery, which
is near the theoretical maximum capacity of 171 mA h/g. Complete full-cell
batteries with near-maximum capacities were also demonstrated as proof-of-concept.
The attainment of this high specific capacity is attributed to the
successful preservation of Na+ intercalation sites in the
fully sodiated material during a critical heat-vacuum-drying step
in our process. These findings, and the significant advancement in
performance, mark an important step toward the future deployment of
sodium-ion rechargeable batteries in consumer electronic devices.