Abstract

While much research effort has been devoted to the development of advanced lithium-ion batteries for renewal energy storage applications, the sodium-ion battery is also of considerable interest because sodium is one of the most abundant elements in the Earth's crust. In this work, we report a sodium-ion battery based on a carbon-coated Fe3O4 anode, Na[Ni0.25Fe0.5Mn0.25]O2 layered cathode, and NaClO4 in fluoroethylene carbonate and ethyl methanesulfonate electrolyte. This unique battery system combines an intercalation cathode and a conversion anode, resulting in high capacity, high rate capability, thermal stability, and much improved cycle life. This performance suggests that our sodium-ion system is potentially promising power sources for promoting the substantial use of low-cost energy storage systems in the near future.