Facile construction of single-crystalline sodium niobate anode materials: insight into the relationship of the morphology and excellent performance for lithium-ion batteries

• Published in: Journal of materials science 2022-03, Vol.57 (10), p.5987-5997
• Main Authors: Du, Zhengyu, Liu, Qianqian, Cheng, Miao, Hu, Jing, Wei, Tao, Li, Wanfei, Ling, Yun, Hu, Xufei, Liu, Bo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anodes; Batteries; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Classical Mechanics; Crystallography and Scattering Methods; Electric properties; Electrochemical analysis; Electrochemical reactions; Electrode materials; Energy Materials; Ion diffusion; Lithium; Lithium-ion batteries; Materials Science; Morphology; Nanowires; Niobium; Polymer Sciences; Rechargeable batteries; Single crystals; Sodium compounds; Solid Mechanics
• ISSN: 0022-2461; 1573-4803
• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-022-07048-4

Electrode materials structures hold the key to enhance the performance. Based on the time-dependent growth process of niobium precursor, single-crystal Na 2 Nb 2 O 6 ·nH 2 O nanowires and NaNbO 3 nanocubes were successfully synthesized through a facile and friendly hydrothermal route at 180 °C under different reaction times. NaNbO 3 nanowires were derived by calcination treatment of Na 2 Nb 2 O 6 ·nH 2 O nanowires which was employed as self-sacrificing templates. By comparing the electrochemical behavior of these niobium-based anodes, NaNbO 3 nanocubes show a discharge capacity of about 115 mA h g −1 over 1000 cycles at 1000 mA g −1 , exhibiting higher reversible capacity and superior rate performance than NaNbO 3 nanowires. The superior cell performance could be interpreted in terms of the different morphologies of NaNbO 3 , which results in the better Li-ion diffusion abilities and higher pseudo-capacitance of the as-fabricated NaNbO 3 nanocubes electrode. This work provides fundamental insights into the morphology–property relationship of both NaNbO 3 nanowires and NaNbO 3 nanocubes, providing a solid guide for developing anode materials for Li-ion battery.