Homeostatic Solid Solution in Layered Transition-Metal Oxide Cathodes of Sodium-Ion Batteries
Meng Ren, Shuo Zhao, Suning Gao, Tong Zhang, Machuan Hou, Wei Zhang, Kun Feng, Jun Zhong, Weibo Hua, Sylvio Indris, Kai Zhang, Jun Chen, Fujun Li
Abstract
Two-phase transformation reaction is ubiquitous in solid-state electrochemistry; however, it usually involves inferior structure rearrangement upon extraction and insertion of large-sized Na+, thus leading to severe local strain, cracks, and capacity decay in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). Here, a homeostatic solid solution reaction is reported in the layered cathode material P′2-Na0.653Ni0.081Mn0.799Ti0.120O2 during sodiation and desodiation. It is induced by the synergistic incorporation of Ni and Ti for the reinforced O(2p)-Mn(3d-eg*) hybridization, which leads to mitigated Jahn–Teller distortion of MnO6 octahedra, contracted transition-metal oxide slabs, and enlarged Na layer spacings. The thermodynamically favorable solid solution pathway rewards the SIBs with excellent cycling stability (87.2% capacity retention after 500 cycles) and rate performance (100.5 mA h g–1 at 2500 mA g–1). The demonstrated reaction pathway will open a new avenue for rational designing of cathode materials for SIBs and beyond.