Electrochemical Sodiation/Desodiation into Mn3O4 Nanoparticles

Nor Fazila Mahamad Yusoff; Nurul Hayati Idris; Muhamad Faiz Md Din; Siti Rohana Majid; Noor Aniza Harun; Md Mokhlesur Rahman

doi:10.1021/acsomega.0c03888

Electrochemical Sodiation/Desodiation into Mn₃O₄ Nanoparticles

ACS Omega. 2020 Nov 3;5(45):29158-29167. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.0c03888. eCollection 2020 Nov 17.

Authors

Nor Fazila Mahamad Yusoff¹, Nurul Hayati Idris¹, Muhamad Faiz Md Din², Siti Rohana Majid³, Noor Aniza Harun⁴, Md Mokhlesur Rahman⁵

Affiliations

¹ Energy Storage Research Group, Faculty of Ocean Engineering Technology and Informatics, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia.
² Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, National Defence University of Malaysia, Kem Sungai Besi, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
³ Center for Ionics University of Malaya, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
⁴ Advanced Nano Materials (ANOMA) Research Group, Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia.
⁵ Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Victoria 3216, Australia.

Abstract

Mn₃O₄ is considered to be a promising anode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) because of its low cost, high capacity, and enhanced safety. However, the inferior cyclic stability of the Mn₃O₄ anode is a major challenge for the development of SIBs. In this study, a one-step solvothermal method was established to produce nanostructured Mn₃O₄ with an average particle size of 21 nm and a crystal size of 11 nm. The Mn₃O₄ obtained exhibits a unique architecture, consisting of small clusters composed of numerous tiny nanoparticles. The Mn₃O₄ material could deliver high capacity (522 mAh g^-1 at 100 mA g^-1), reasonable cyclic stability (158 mAh g^-1 after 200 cycles), and good rate capability (73 mAh g^-1 at 1000 mA g^-1) even without further carbon coating, which is a common exercise for most anode materials so far. The sodium insertion/extraction was also confirmed by a reversible conversion reaction by adopting an ex situ X-ray diffraction technique. This simple, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly synthesis technique with good electrochemical performance shows that the Mn₃O₄ nanoparticle anode has the potential for SIB development.