Molten salt-assisted synthesis of bismuth nanosheets with long-term cyclability at high rates for sodium-ion batteries

Kunkun Hu; Yuan Chen; Cheng Zheng; Xinyu Du; Mingyue Wang; Qian Yao; Han Wang; Kai Fan; Wensheng Wang; Xiangshun Yan; Nana Wang; Zhongchao Bai; Shixue Dou

doi:10.1039/d3ra03767c

Molten salt-assisted synthesis of bismuth nanosheets with long-term cyclability at high rates for sodium-ion batteries

RSC Adv. 2023 Aug 25;13(36):25552-25560. doi: 10.1039/d3ra03767c. eCollection 2023 Aug 21.

Authors

Kunkun Hu¹, Yuan Chen¹, Cheng Zheng², Xinyu Du³, Mingyue Wang⁴, Qian Yao², Han Wang¹, Kai Fan⁴, Wensheng Wang¹, Xiangshun Yan¹, Nana Wang⁴, Zhongchao Bai¹, Shixue Dou⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering Shandong University of Science and Technology Qingdao 266590 P. R. China.
² Key Laboratory of Colloid and Interface Chemistry, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University Jinan P. R. China.
³ Soochow Institute for Energy and Materials Innovations & Key Laboratory of Advanced Carbon Materials and Wearable Energy Technologies of Jiangsu Province, Soochow University Suzhou 215006 China.
⁴ Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials University of Wollongong Wollongong Australia.

Abstract

Bismuth is a promising anode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) due to its high capacity and suitable working potential. However, the large volume change during alloying/dealloying would lead to poor cycling performance. Herein, we have constructed a 3D hierarchical structure assembled by bismuth nanosheets, addressing the challenges of fast kinetics, and providing efficient stress and strain relief room. The uniform bismuth nanosheets are prepared via a molten salt-assisted aluminum thermal reduction method. Compared with the commercial bismuth powder, the bismuth nanosheets present a larger specific surface area and interlayer spacing, which is beneficial for sodium ion insertion and release. As a result, the bismuth nanosheet anode presents excellent sodium storage properties with an ultralong cycle life of 6500 cycles at a high current density of 10 A g^-1, and an excellent capacity retention of 87% at an ultrahigh current rate of 30 A g^-1. Moreover, the full SIBs that paired with the Na₃V₂(PO₄)₃/rGO cathode exhibited excellent performance. This work not only presents a novel strategy for preparing bismuth nanosheets with significantly increased interlayer spacing but also offers a straightforward synthesis method utilizing low-cost precursors. Furthermore, the outstanding performance demonstrated by these nanosheets indicates their potential for various practical applications.