3D Porous Self-Standing Sb Foam Anode with a Conformal Indium Layer for Enhanced Sodium Storage

Antimony (Sb) has been considered as a promising anode for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) because of its high theoretical capacity and moderate working potential but suffers from the dramatic volume variations (∼250%), an unstable electrode/electrolyte interphase, active material exfoliation, and a continuously increased interphase impedance upon sodiation and desodiation processes. To address these issues, we report a unique three-dimensional (3D) porous self-standing foam electrode built from core-shelled Sb@In2O3 nanostructures via a continuous electrodepositing strategy coupled with surface chemical passivation. Such a hierarchical structure possesses a robust framework with rich voids and a dense protection layer (In2O3), which allow Sb nanoparticles to well accommodate their mechanical strain for efficiently avoiding electrode cracks and pulverization with a stable electrode/electrolyte interphase upon sodiation/desodiation processes. When evaluated as an anode for SIBs, the prepared nanoarchitectures exhibit a high first reversible capacity (641.3 mA h g–1) and good cyclability (456.5 mA h g–1 after 300 cycles at 300 mA g–1), along with superior high rate capacity (348.9 mA h g–1 even at 20 A g–1) with a first Coulomb efficiency as high as 85.3%. This work could offer an efficient approach to improve alloying-based anode materials for promoting their practical applications.