Achieving high initial Coulombic efficiency for competent Na storage by microstructure tailoring from chiral nematic nanocrystalline cellulose
Fei Xie,
Zhen Xu,
Zhenyu Guo,
Anders C. S. Jensen,
Jingyu Feng,
Hui Luo,
Feixiang Ding,
Yaxiang Lu,
Yong‐Sheng Hu,
Maria‐Magdalena Titirici
Affiliations
Fei Xie
Key Laboratory for Renewable Energy, Beijing Key Laboratory for New Energy Materials and Devices, Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
Zhen Xu
Department of Chemical Engineering Imperial College London London UK
Zhenyu Guo
Department of Chemical Engineering Imperial College London London UK
Anders C. S. Jensen
School of Physical and Chemical Sciences Queen Mary University of London London UK
Jingyu Feng
Department of Chemical Engineering Imperial College London London UK
Hui Luo
Department of Chemical Engineering Imperial College London London UK
Feixiang Ding
Key Laboratory for Renewable Energy, Beijing Key Laboratory for New Energy Materials and Devices, Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
Yaxiang Lu
Key Laboratory for Renewable Energy, Beijing Key Laboratory for New Energy Materials and Devices, Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
Yong‐Sheng Hu
Key Laboratory for Renewable Energy, Beijing Key Laboratory for New Energy Materials and Devices, Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China
Maria‐Magdalena Titirici
Department of Chemical Engineering Imperial College London London UK
Abstract Although it has been proven that porous, heteroatomic, and defective structures improve Na storage performance, they also severely affect the initial Coulombic efficiency (ICE) due to the huge irreversible capacity in the first cycle, which always limits the practical application of carbon anodes in commercial Na‐ion batteries (NIBs). Here, we show the successful synthesis of nanocrystalline cellulose and the derivative hard carbons. A series of treatments including acid hydrolysis, hydrothermal carbonization, and high‐temperature pyrolysis help tune the pores, heteroatoms, and defects to achieve an optimized balance between superior ICE and reversible capacity of up to 90.4% and 314 mAh g−1. This study highlights that tailoring the electrode microstructure could be an important strategy in the future design of carbonaceous anode materials for high‐performance Na‐ion batteries.
