A Sugar-Derived Room-Temperature Sodium Sulfur Battery with Long Term Cycling Stability.
We demonstrate a room-temperature sodium sulfur battery based on a confining microporous carbon template derived from sucrose that delivers a reversible capacity over 700 mAh/gSat 0.1C rates, maintaining 370 mAh/gSat 10 times higher rates of 1C. Cycling at 1C rates reveals retention of over 300 mAh/gScapacity across 1500 cycles with Coulombic efficiency >98% due to microporous sulfur confinement and stability of the sodium metal anode in a glyme-based electrolyte. We show sucrose to be an ideal platform to develop microporous carbon capable of mitigating electrode-electrolyte reactivity and loss of soluble intermediate discharge products. In a manner parallel to the low-cost materials of the traditional sodium beta battery, our work demonstrates the combination of table sugar, sulfur, and sodium, all of which are cheap and earth abundant, for a high-performance stable room-temperature sodium sulfur battery.
Department of Mechanical Engineering and ‡Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee 37235, United States.
Rachel
R
Carter
Department of Mechanical Engineering and ‡Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee 37235, United States.
Landon
L
Oakes
Department of Mechanical Engineering and ‡Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee 37235, United States.
Anna
A
Douglas
Department of Mechanical Engineering and ‡Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee 37235, United States.
Nitin
0000-0001-6042-5295
N
Muralidharan
Department of Mechanical Engineering and ‡Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee 37235, United States.
Adam P
AP
Cohn
Department of Mechanical Engineering and ‡Interdisciplinary Materials Science Program, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, Tennessee 37235, United States.
Cary L
0000-0003-4700-0852
CL
Pint
Sodium sulfur battery; ambient temperature; microporous carbon; room temperature; sucrose-derived carbon; sulfur confinement