Binder and Conductive Diluents Free NaVPO4F Based Free-standing Positive Electrodes for Sodium-Ion Batteries

Herein, we report a carbon-fiber based freestanding electrode for NaVPO4F cathodes in sodium-ion batteries. The replacement of conventional aluminum foil with a carbon fiber mat-based current collector results in significant improvement in capacity at high rates and charge-discharge cycle stability. Petroleum-pitch (P-Pitch) has dual functions. P-pitch is used as a binder to bind NaVPO4F particles onto the carbon fiber mat, which helps to eliminate typical organic binders. At the same time, P-Pitch acts as a conducting precursor to coat onto NaVPO4F particles. The amount of P-pitch required to achieve stable electrochemical performance is optimized. As a result, 15 and 20 % of P-pitch in the composite NaVPO4F electrodes (15P_NVPF@CF and 20P_NVPF@CF) shows stable electrochemical performances. A reversible capacity of 120 and 119 mAh g−1 are observed for 15P_NVPF@CF and 20P_NVPF@CF, with 97 and 98 % retention in capacity after 300 cycles, respectively. Further, at a 0.5 C current rate, 15P_NVPF@CF and 20P_NVPF@CF electrodes show 86 and 87 % capacity retention after 1000 cycles. The significant electrochemical performance of these freestanding electrodes is ascribed to the interlinked carbon matrix with NaVPO4F particles and carbon-fiber mat, which provides a continuous path for electronic conduction and faster kinetics of NaVPO4F particles

Achieving Porous Carbon Fibers Pretreated With a Swarm of CO2 Micro-Nanobubbles

Using petroleum pitch is touted as a sustainable method to fabricate carbon fibers, yet requires further advances in inevitable pore decrease after post-treatment. In an effort to circumvent this upper limit, renewable resources are widely used in the production of commercial carbon fibers. Here we show that dissolved micro-nanobubbles of CO2 in pretreatment may aid in the pore-growth of carbon fibers during activation. The results confirm that micro-nanobubbles increase specific surface (39.21 %) and micropore (16.44 %) areas of a sample. The chemical state of the elements revealed that there were no marked impurities. The observed behaviors can be understood by the following; 1) Partial O atoms released from dissolved micro-nanobubbles may attach to surrounding CO during activation, thereafter results in a higher mass of CO2. 2) Partial O atoms may directly interact with C from unmatured crystallites and form additional CO. We further denote optimized conditions based on the derived mechanism. This study provides a new strategy for the development of highly surface carbonaceous materials, thus possibly stimulating more research on advanced performance adsorbents or electrode materials.