Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), despite being a most attractive candidate for such large-scale applications due to the worldwide abundance and low cost of Na resources, have several grievous flaws.
Materials innovation in solid electrolytes is imperative to fulfill multiple requirements, including high conductivity, functional synthesis protocols for achieving intimate ionic contact with active materials, and air stability. To resolve some of these issues, a new study, affiliated with UNIST has proposed a new class of practical all-solid-state Na-ion batteries that are safe and inexpensive.
Through this study, the team has manufactured a method for producing a new, highly conductive and dry air stable sodium superionic conductor, tetragonal Na3SbS4. According to the research team, this new solution-processed, highly conductivesodium superionic conductor demonstrates dramatically improved electrochemical performance in all-solid-state batteries.
This research was jointly conduced by Prof. Yoon Seok Jung (School of Energy and Chemical Engineering) and Prof. Seung-Tae Hong (Department of Energy Systems Engineering) of DGIST, and Prof. Seung M. Oh (School of Chemical and Biological Engineering) of Seoul National University. The findings have been published in the July issue of the prestigious chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie.
In this study, the excellence stability in dry air, a high conductivity of 1.1 mS cm−1, and scalable solution processability using MeOH or water, were successfully demonstrated for a new sodium superionic conductor, tetragonal Na3SbS4.
Prof. Jung states, “We believe that our results will ignite interest in materials design and synthesis for superionic conductors and advance commercialization of all-solid-state technologies.”
This work has been supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education and by the 2016 Research Fund of UNIST.
Journal Reference:
Dr. Abhik Banerjee, Kern Ho Park, Jongwook W. Heo, Young Jin Nam, Chang Ki Moon, Prof. Seung M. Oh, Prof. Seung-Tae Hong, and Prof. Yoon Seok Jung. “Na3SbS4: A Solution Processable Sodium Superionic Conductor for All-Solid-State Sodium-Ion Batteries.” Angewandte Chemie, 2016.
