Relating Synthesis Conditions and Electrochemical Performance for the Sodium Intercalation Compound Na[sub 4]Mn[sub 9]O[sub 18] in Aqueous Electrolyte

The sodium intercalation compound , more commonly , was studied as a potential positive electrode in an aqueous electrolyte hybrid energy storage device. Varying ratios of precursors were used in a solid-state synthetic route in an effort to compensate for volatile loss of sodium during processing. The powders were characterized using X-ray powder diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis, while particle morphology and formation were studied by scanning electron microscopy/electron dispersive spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Electrochemical behavior was characterized by galvanostatic cycling and cyclic voltammetry. With a positive electrode voltage window of −0.3 to 0.3 V vs a reference electrode, a specific capacity of 35 mAh/g was observed after 20 cycles at a C/1.4 rate (25 mA/g) with little capacity loss. The most stable of the materials were made with a Na:Mn precursor ratio equal to 0.55 and showed excellent performance through many charge/discharge cycles. These samples also contained varying amounts of and impurity phases. The results indicated a relationship between the precursor Na/Mn ratio and the resultant redox potentials associated with the multiple hybrid Mn oxidation states encountered during cycling although no significant variance in the crystallography of the phase was observed.