Direct ink writing to create low-tortuosity structured electrodes for advanced sodium-ion batteries
摘要
Traditional planar-thick electrodes cannot significantly enhance the energy density of sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) due to the long and tortuous ion diffusion path within the high-tortuosity electrodes, resulting in low utilization rate of active materials. Constructing three-dimensional structured electrodes (3DSEs) with low-tortuosity has been proven an effective strategy to improve the energy density of SIBs. In this study, the 3DSEs with a linear arrayed structure are designed and fabricated using the direct ink writing (DIW) method. The influences of several key fabrication parameters on the morphology structures and electrochemical performances of 3DSEs are experimentally investigated. Results demonstrate that the 3DSEs present a much higher areal capacity and a superior rate performance than the planar electrodes. The 3DSEs with three printing layers fabricated using a nozzle diameter of 0.4 mm and a printing interval of 1.2 mm deliver a high areal capacity of 1.7 mAh cm−2 at 50 mA g−1 and a long-term cycling performance over 400 cycles at 500 mA g−1. This work provides helpful guidance for making low-tortuosity 3DSEs by optimizing the processing parameters.