A safe and non-flammable sodium metal battery based on an ionic liquid electrolyte

Hao Sun, Guanzhou Zhu, Xintong Xu, Meng Liao, Yuan Yao Li, Michael Angell, Meng Gu, Yuanmin Zhu, Wei Hsuan Hung, Jiachen Li, Yun Kuang, Yongtao Meng, Meng Chang Lin, Huisheng Peng, Hongjie Dai

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

193 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Rechargeable sodium metal batteries with high energy density could be important to a wide range of energy applications in modern society. The pursuit of higher energy density should ideally come with high safety, a goal difficult for electrolytes based on organic solvents. Here we report a chloroaluminate ionic liquid electrolyte comprised of aluminium chloride/1-methyl-3-ethylimidazolium chloride/sodium chloride ionic liquid spiked with two important additives, ethylaluminum dichloride and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide. This leads to the first chloroaluminate based ionic liquid electrolyte for rechargeable sodium metal battery. The obtained batteries reached voltages up to ~ 4 V, high Coulombic efficiency up to 99.9%, and high energy and power density of ~ 420 Wh kg−1 and ~ 1766 W kg−1, respectively. The batteries retained over 90% of the original capacity after 700 cycles, suggesting an effective approach to sodium metal batteries with high energy/high power density, long cycle life and high safety.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3302
JournalNature Communications
Volume10
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2019
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • General Biochemistry,Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Physics and Astronomy

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