Tuning the Interfacial Chemistry for Stable and High Energy Density Aqueous Sodium-Ion/Sulfur Batteries
Authors: Kumar Mukesh , C. Nagaiah Tharamani 
Published: February 2024

The environmental-related issues arising from the fossil fuel assorted industrial revolution and worldwide development have prompted the quest for rechargeable batteries. In these predicaments, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) took ownership to reshape our lives. However, the limited abundance, non-uniform geographical distribution and severe flammability of organic electrolytes, increase the uncertainty over their large-scale application. Recently, aqueous rechargeable sodium-ion batteries (ARSIBs) have gained considerable curiosity for large-scale energy storage due to their much-assured safety, environment friendliness, high-rate capacity, and low cost. However, the prospects of ARSIBs seeing commercial success remained remote due to the narrow water stability window (1.23 V), which translates into low cell voltage (< 1.6 V), low energy density (< 70 Wh Kg-1), and compromised cycling stability. The aforesaid dilemmas can be resolved by generating a protective layer known as a solid electrolyte interface (SEI) like in organic electrolytes. However, the SEI concept in aqueous electrolytes is relatively unexplored, as water dissociation leads to O2 and H2, and will enhance the parasitic reactions. The SEI formed in WiSE due to salt reduction is often inhomogeneous with a porous mosaic structure and is susceptible to mechanical cracking, and increase the overall cost. Hence, high-capacity electrodes and high voltage electrolytes capable of forming a stable SEI are urgently required to fulfill the dream of the large-scale application of ARSIBs.

Recently low cost, highly abundant sulfur-based electrode material has attracted significant research attention due to its high theoretical capacity (1675 mA h g-1) and energy density. However, sluggish sulfur redox kinetics, acute polysulfide shutting, dendritic growth on the metal-based anode and low conductivity of sulfur and its discharge products proves to be a major roadblock for its commercialization. Utilizing abundant sulfur in an aqueous electrolyte along with abundant Na+ can resolve the kinetics and conductivity anxieties and leads to a new greener and safer Na-ion/S batteries chemistry. However lower order polysulfide dissolution in water is more feasible, leading to the rapid capacity decay and active sulfur loss due to H2S formation. Polysulfide dissolution is an interfacial mechanism occurring at the electrode-electrolyte interface and depends on both electrode and electrolyte merits. Therefore, an effective approach will be to couple efficient sulfur host with an electrolyte capable of generating a stable SEI on the electrode surface to prevent the direct attack of water on polysulfide.

Herein we have explored urchin-like CoWO4 as a sulfur host coupled with Na-W-U-D electrolyte. The CoWO4 exhibits high conductivity, strong chemical interaction for sulfur and its discharge products, and urchin-like morphology having exposed edges facilitate the charge transport results in excellent polysulfide redox kinetics. The high voltage Na-W-U-D electrolyte was prepared by mixing NaClO4, urea, and N, N-dimethylformamide DMF in 1:2:1 ratio in water. Each component in the electrolyte plays an important role. Urea has very high water solubility and tends to form stable SEI, while DMF has a high dielectric constant, good solvation ability, and develop stabilize SEI. As a result, Na-W-U-D shows a stability window close to the 3.1 V regime due to reduced water activity resulting from complex ion solvent interaction and stable and uniform SEI formation, consisting of Na2CO3, polyurea, and reduction products of DMF. Despite the addition of DMF, non-flammable features of aqueous electrolytes remain well maintained. Herein for the first time, the SEI concept was successfully used for the aq. Na-ion/S battery. We discovered that the lower water activity of Na-W-U-D electrolyte hindered polysulfide dissolution and stable SEI prevent the direct attack of water on polysulfide and results in extended cycling stability. At the same time, the urchin-like CoWO4 host enhances the sluggish polysulfide redox kinetics and provides an abundant anchoring site for polysulfide adsorption. We investigate the effect of time, C-rate, depth of discharge, and dissolved oxygen on polysulfide dissolution and self-discharge of the negative electrode. The high electrode capacity combined with the safety and stable SEI of Na-W-U-D electrolyte translated into a record high initial capacity of 834 mA h g-1 w.r.t sulfur, with remarkable cycling stability up to 500 cycles @ 0.5 C. Post analysis by SEM and XPS, evident that the stable SEI consists of Na2CO3, polyurea, and reduced products of DMF (CO and NHMe2), which also prevent the negative electrode from self-discharge by mitigating the parasitic reaction of dissolved oxygen in the electrolyte. Moreover, a full cell assembled by integrating S@CoWO4 anode and Na0.44MnO2 cathode showed remarkable stability and a high energy density of 119 Wh kg-1, making it a promising candidate for a future energy storage system.

Figure 1