Atomic visualization of a non-equilibrium sodiation pathway in copper sulfide

Sodium ion batteries have been considered a promising alternative to lithium ion batteries for large-scale energy storage owing to their low cost and high natural abundance. However, the commercialization of this device is hindered by the lack of suitable anodes with an optimized morphology that ens...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2018-03, Vol.9 (1), p.922-7, Article 922
Main Authors: Park, Jae Yeol, Kim, Sung Joo, Chang, Joon Ha, Seo, Hyeon Kook, Lee, Jeong Yong, Yuk, Jong Min
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
147/143
639/301/930/328/2082
639/4077/4079/891
Anodes
Atomic structure
Commercialization
Copper
Copper sulfides
Crystallography
Electrode materials
Electron microscopy
Energy storage
Humanities and Social Sciences
Lithium
Lithium-ion batteries
Metastable phases
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Sodium
Storage batteries
Sulfides
Transmission electron microscopy
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Summary:Sodium ion batteries have been considered a promising alternative to lithium ion batteries for large-scale energy storage owing to their low cost and high natural abundance. However, the commercialization of this device is hindered by the lack of suitable anodes with an optimized morphology that ensure high capacity and cycling stability of a battery. Here, we not only demonstrate that copper sulfide nanoplates exhibit close-to-theoretical capacity (~560 mAh g –1 ) and long-term cyclability, but also reveal that their sodiation follows a non-equilibrium reaction route, which involves successive crystallographic tuning. By employing in situ transmission electron microscopy, we examine the atomic structures of four distinct sodiation phases of copper sulfide nanoplates including a metastable phase and discover that the discharge profile of copper sulfide directly reflects the observed phase evolutions. Our work provides detailed insight into the sodiation process of the high-performance intercalation–conversion anode material. Copper sulfide allows for high-performance sodium ion storage, yet its sodiation mechanism is poorly understood. Here, the authors examine the atomic structures of sodiated phases via in situ transmission electron microscopy, showing a non-equilibrium reaction pathway.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-018-03322-9