A Mo5N6 electrocatalyst for efficient Na2S electrodeposition in room-temperature sodium-sulfur batteries

Chao Ye; Huanyu Jin; Jieqiong Shan; Yan Jiao; Huan Li; Qinfen Gu; Kenneth Davey; Haihui Wang; Shi-Zhang Qiao

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-27551-7

A Mo₅N₆ electrocatalyst for efficient Na₂S electrodeposition in room-temperature sodium-sulfur batteries

Chao Ye, Huanyu Jin, Jieqiong Shan, Yan Jiao, Huan Li, Qinfen Gu, Kenneth Davey, Haihui Wang^*, Shi-Zhang Qiao^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

146 Citations (Scopus)

57 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

Metal sulfides electrodeposition in sulfur cathodes mitigates the shuttle effect of polysulfides to achieve high Coulombic efficiency in secondary metal-sulfur batteries. However, fundamental understanding of metal sulfides electrodeposition and kinetics mechanism remains limited. Here using room-temperature sodium-sulfur cells as a model system, we report a Mo₅N₆ cathode material that enables efficient Na₂S electrodeposition to achieve an initial discharge capacity of 512 mAh g⁻¹ at a specific current of 1 675 mA g⁻¹, and a final discharge capacity of 186 mAh g⁻¹ after 10,000 cycles. Combined analyses from synchrotron-based spectroscopic characterizations, electrochemical kinetics measurements and density functional theory computations confirm that the high d-band position results in a low Na₂S₂ dissociation free energy for Mo₅N₆. This promotes Na₂S electrodeposition, and thereby favours long-term cell cycling performance. © 2021, The Author(s).

Original language	English
Article number	7195
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	12
Online published	10 Dec 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-27551-7
Publication status	Published - 2021
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This work was supported financially by the Australian Research Council (ARC) through Discovery Project FL170100154. DFT computations were undertaken with the assistance of resources and services from the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) and Phoenix High Performance Computing, which are supported by the Australian Government and The University of Adelaide. The authors thank Dr Bruce Cowie at the Australian Synchrotron, Clayton, Victoria for assistance with NEXAFS.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

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This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Cite this

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title = "A Mo5N6 electrocatalyst for efficient Na2S electrodeposition in room-temperature sodium-sulfur batteries",

abstract = "Metal sulfides electrodeposition in sulfur cathodes mitigates the shuttle effect of polysulfides to achieve high Coulombic efficiency in secondary metal-sulfur batteries. However, fundamental understanding of metal sulfides electrodeposition and kinetics mechanism remains limited. Here using room-temperature sodium-sulfur cells as a model system, we report a Mo5N6 cathode material that enables efficient Na2S electrodeposition to achieve an initial discharge capacity of 512 mAh g−1 at a specific current of 1 675 mA g−1, and a final discharge capacity of 186 mAh g−1 after 10,000 cycles. Combined analyses from synchrotron-based spectroscopic characterizations, electrochemical kinetics measurements and density functional theory computations confirm that the high d-band position results in a low Na2S2 dissociation free energy for Mo5N6. This promotes Na2S electrodeposition, and thereby favours long-term cell cycling performance. {\textcopyright} 2021, The Author(s).",

author = "Chao Ye and Huanyu Jin and Jieqiong Shan and Yan Jiao and Huan Li and Qinfen Gu and Kenneth Davey and Haihui Wang and Shi-Zhang Qiao",

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language = "English",

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journal = "Nature Communications",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - A Mo5N6 electrocatalyst for efficient Na2S electrodeposition in room-temperature sodium-sulfur batteries

AU - Ye, Chao

AU - Jin, Huanyu

AU - Shan, Jieqiong

AU - Jiao, Yan

AU - Li, Huan

AU - Gu, Qinfen

AU - Davey, Kenneth

AU - Wang, Haihui

AU - Qiao, Shi-Zhang

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Metal sulfides electrodeposition in sulfur cathodes mitigates the shuttle effect of polysulfides to achieve high Coulombic efficiency in secondary metal-sulfur batteries. However, fundamental understanding of metal sulfides electrodeposition and kinetics mechanism remains limited. Here using room-temperature sodium-sulfur cells as a model system, we report a Mo5N6 cathode material that enables efficient Na2S electrodeposition to achieve an initial discharge capacity of 512 mAh g−1 at a specific current of 1 675 mA g−1, and a final discharge capacity of 186 mAh g−1 after 10,000 cycles. Combined analyses from synchrotron-based spectroscopic characterizations, electrochemical kinetics measurements and density functional theory computations confirm that the high d-band position results in a low Na2S2 dissociation free energy for Mo5N6. This promotes Na2S electrodeposition, and thereby favours long-term cell cycling performance. © 2021, The Author(s).

AB - Metal sulfides electrodeposition in sulfur cathodes mitigates the shuttle effect of polysulfides to achieve high Coulombic efficiency in secondary metal-sulfur batteries. However, fundamental understanding of metal sulfides electrodeposition and kinetics mechanism remains limited. Here using room-temperature sodium-sulfur cells as a model system, we report a Mo5N6 cathode material that enables efficient Na2S electrodeposition to achieve an initial discharge capacity of 512 mAh g−1 at a specific current of 1 675 mA g−1, and a final discharge capacity of 186 mAh g−1 after 10,000 cycles. Combined analyses from synchrotron-based spectroscopic characterizations, electrochemical kinetics measurements and density functional theory computations confirm that the high d-band position results in a low Na2S2 dissociation free energy for Mo5N6. This promotes Na2S electrodeposition, and thereby favours long-term cell cycling performance. © 2021, The Author(s).

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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-021-27551-7

DO - 10.1038/s41467-021-27551-7

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

C2 - 34893632

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 12

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

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