PNNL

Abstract

Designing nanocomposite materials is an effective approach for enhancing the performance of sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), and understanding the synergy among components is critically important for new, better materials design. Herein, a directly reduced graphene oxide (RGO) decorated anode electrode was designed and tested for SIBs, in which uniform RGO coating onto the Ni3S2/Ni electrode was realized using facile hydrothermal reactions. The results indicate that the RGO/Ni3S2/Ni electrode delivers a high reversible specific capacity of 448.6 mAh g-1, high capacity retention of 96.5% after 100 cycles, and excellent rate capability of 263.1 mAh g-1 at 800 mA g-1. Compared with the Ni3S2/Ni electrode, the improved performance of the RGO/Ni3S2/Ni electrode benefits from RGO-promoted displacement reaction of Ni3S2 with sodium. DFT calculations reveal that the RGO layer can significantly improve the electron mobility of the RGO/Ni3S2 + Na structure, and the hybrid interaction between the C-p state of RGO and the Ni-p, Ni-d, and S-p states of Ni3S2 is the major reason for why RGO can improve the electrical transport properties.