Boosting Cycling Stability of Polymer Sodium Battery by "Rigid-Flexible" Coupled Interfacial Stress Modulation

Nano Lett. 2023 Apr 26;23(8):3630-3636. doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c04854. Epub 2023 Feb 27.

Abstract

The discontinuous interfacial contact of solid-state polymer metal batteries is due to the stress changes in the electrode structure during cycling, resulting in poor ion transport. Herein, a rigid-flexible coupled interface stress modulation strategy is developed to solve the above issues, which is to design a rigid cathode with enhanced solid-solution behavior to guide the uniform distribution of ions and electric field. Meanwhile, the polymer components are optimized to build an organic-inorganic blended flexible interfacial film to relieve the change of interfacial stress and ensure rapid ion transmission. The fabricated battery comprising a Co-modulated P2-type layered cathode (Na0.67Mn2/3Co1/3O2) and a high ion conductive polymer could deliver good cycling stability without distinct capacity fading (72.8 mAh g-1 over 350 cycles at 1 C), outperforming those without Co modulation or interfacial film construction. This work demonstrates a promising rigid-flexible coupled interfacial stress modulation strategy for polymer-metal batteries with excellent cycling stability.

Keywords: P2-layered cathode; polymer sodium−metal batteries; rigid-flexible coupling; stable interface; stress modulation.