3D Ni/Na metal anode for improved sodium metal batteries

Abstract Sodium metal batteries are regarded as a promising energy storage system due to the natural abundance of sodium metal. However, sodium metal batteries severely suffer from the formation of Na dendrites and a large volume change during the repetitive Na stripping/plating process. In this work, a 3D Ni/Na metal anode is fabricated by incorporating Na into 3D Ni foam using a facile mechanical rolling strategy. The resultant 3D Ni/Na metal anode shows a lower overpotential and a higher cycling stability in comparison with bare Na metal anode in symmetric cells. Furthermore, in full cells with Na3V2(PO4)3 cathode, the 3D Ni/Na metal anode exhibits highly reversible capacity of 75 mA h g-1 after 200 cycles at 1 C and superior rate capability in contrast with bare Na metal anode.