A Unique Wide-Spacing Fence-Type Superstructure for Robust High-Voltage O3-Type Sodium Layered Cathode

Abstract

Enhancing the energy density of layered oxide cathode materials is of great significance for realizing high-performance sodium-ion batteries and promoting their commercial application. Lattice oxygen redox at high voltage usually enables a high capacity and energy density. But the structural degradation, severe voltage decay, and the resultant poor cycling performance caused by irreversible oxygen release seriously restrict the practical application. Herein we introduce a novel fence-type superstructure (2a×3a type supercell) into O3-type layered cathode material Na_0.9Li_0.1Ni_0.3Mn_0.3Ti_0.3O₂ and achieve a stable cycling performance at a high voltage of 4.4 V. The fence-type superstructure effectively inhibits the formation of the vacancy clusters resulting from out-of-plane Li migration and in-plane transition metal migration at high voltage due to the wide d-spacing, thereby significantly reducing the irreversible release of lattice oxygen and greatly stabilizing the crystal structure. The cathode exhibits a high energy density of 545 Wh kg⁻¹, a high rate capability (112.8 mAh g⁻¹ at 5 C) and a high cycling stability (85.8 %@200 cycles with a high initial capacity of 148.6 mAh g⁻¹ at 1 C) accompanied by negligible voltage attenuation (98.5 %@200 cycles). This strategy provides a distinct spacing effect of superstructure to design stable high-voltage layered cathode materials for Na-ion batteries.