Na-ion battery has the potential to be one of the best types of next-generation energy storage devices by virtue of their cost and sustainability advantages. With the demand for high safety, the replacement of traditional organic electrolytes with polymer electrolytes can avoid electrolyte leakage and thermal instability. Polymer electrolytes, however, suffer from low ionic conductivity and large interfacial impedance. Gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) represent an excellent balance that combines the advantages of high ionic conductivity, low interfacial impedance, high thermal stability, and flexibility. This short review summarizes the recent progress on gel polymer Na-ion batteries, focusing on different preparation approaches and the resultant physical and electrochemical properties. Reasons for the differences in ionic conductivity, mechanical properties, interfacial properties, and thermal stability are discussed at the molecular level. This Review may offer a deep understanding of
A team of researchers recently published a paper in the journal Carbon Energy that reviewed the strategies used to balance the mechanical properties and ionic conductivity of polyacrylate-based polymer electrolytes (PA-based PEs) for energy applications.
Driven by demand for electric vehicles and grid-scale energy storage, a boom in lithium-ion batteries is currently underway to provide energy storage at great scale. The resulting sustained increased demand for lithium-ion battery raw materials may eventually make alternative battery chemistries attractive. Sodium-ion batteries currently represent the most mature such technology, although they remain far from market-ready. Much fundamental research and materials development remains to be done to improve their performance and understand their limitations. This thesis focuses on the development of cathode and electrolyte materials, with an overall goal of gaining a better overview of the materials available for sodium-ion batteries and a deeper understanding of their electrochemical behavior. To start, a series of Prussian Blue analogues (metal ferrocyanides) was studied, primarily focusing on sodium manganese ferrocyanide (MnPB) and sodium nickel ferrocyanide (NiPB). These materials com
Sodium-ion batteries are seeing a surge in interest as a potential complementary energy storage technology in light of skyrocketing demand for lithium-ion batteries. One of the frontiers of improving sodium-ion battery competitiveness is replacing liquid electrolytes with polymer electrolytes, which contain no free-flowing solvent, to increase safety and reduce cost. Their development may one day make viable sodium-metal batteries, which would have considerable advantages in energy density. This review provides an overview of the current field of both solid-polymer and gel-polymer electrolytes for sodium-ion batteries, with a focus in the key performance parameters used to assess them. In particular, their targeted manipulation and significance for practical use are discussed. A major theme is also the interdependence of many electrochemical and mechanical properties. In addition, a quantitative comparison of hitherto reported values for these parameters across various polymer classes