Sb₂S₃ Nanorod Hierarchies Enabling Homogeneous Sodium Deposition for Dendrite-Free Sodium-Metal Batteries

Sodium (Na) metal anode possesses abundant resource and high theoretical capacity, but is still limited by severe Na dendritic growth and thus resulting in poor cycle/safety problems. To facilitate homogeneous Na deposition during repeated stripping/plating processes, we herein report the microwave hydrothermal synthesis of Sb2S3 nanorod hierarchies and demonstrate the first use of Sb2S3 as a substrate to in situ construct “sodiophilic” nucleation sites, which efficiently promote the uniform dendrite-free Na deposition/growth. The Na-predeposited Sb2S3 (Na/Sb2S3) anode displays a low voltage hysteresis (28.5 mV at 5 mA cm–2), a superior cyclic performance (3000 cycles), and a rate capability (10 mA cm–2) with highly decreased interfacial resistance. Moreover, the Na-ion full cell assembled by the Na/Sb2S3 anode and the Na3V2(PO4)3 cathode exhibits much enhanced sodium storage performances with small voltage polarizations, as compared with the bare Na-based full batteries.