Electrospinning Engineering Enables High-Performance Sodium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

As a promising energy storage device, sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have received continuous attention due to their low-cost and environmental friendliness. However, the sluggish kinetics of Na ion usually makes SIBs hard to realize desirable electrochemical performance when compared to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The key to addressing this issue is to build up nanostructured materials which enable fast Na-ion insertion/extraction. One-dimensional (1D) nanocarbons have been considered as both the anode and the matrix to support active materials for SIB electrodes owing to their high electronic conductivity and excellent mechanical property. Because of their large surface areas and short ion/electron diffusion path, the synthesized electrodes can show good rate performance and cyclic stability during the charge/discharge processes. Electrospinning is a simple synthetic technology, featuring inexpensiveness, easy operation and scalable production, and has been largely used to fabricate 1D nanostructured composites. In this review, we first give a simple description of the electrospinning principle and its capability to construct desired nanostructures with different compositions. Then, we discuss recent developments of carbon-based hybrids with desired structural and compositional characteristics as the electrodes by electrospinning engineering for SIBs. Finally, we identify future research directions to realize more breakthroughs on electrospun electrodes for SIBs.