Protection of sodium metal anodes meets in situ photoelectron spectroscopy

Sodium metal batteries (SMBs) have attracted extensive attention because of their high theoretical capacity (1166 mAh/g), low redox potential (−2.71 V vs. SHE), high natural material abundance, and low cost. However, the growth of dendrites results in poor battery performance and severe safety problems, inhibiting the commercial application of SMBs. In order to stabilize sodium metal anodes, various methods have been developed to optimize the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer and adjust the electroplating/stripping behavior of sodium. Among them, developing anode host materials and adding electrolyte additives to build a protective layer are promising and convenient ways. In order to achieve the rational design of advanced anode hosts and electrolyte additives, the understanding of the interaction process between sodium metal and those organic materials is of great significance.

Researchers led by Prof. Wei Chen at National University of Singapore, Singapore, are interested in the interface protection of sodium metal anodes, which is indispensable for the development of sodium metal batteries. They creatively linked in situ interface research methods with the protection of sodium metal anodes. Since the battery system is complicated with various electrolyte compositions and side reactions, in order to simplify the research system and give direct evidence about the interaction process between sodium metal anodes and the electrolyte additives (or hosts), they used organic molecules as model systems. Through their customer-designed in situ UHV-XPS/UPS systems, they unraveled the Na interaction process at Na/CuPc and Na/F₁₆CuPc interfaces, especially the effect of fluorination on sodiophilic sites, which provide insights into the radical design of fluorine-containing electrolyte additives and hosts for the protection of sodium metal anodes. The work entitled “Probing fluorination promoted sodiophilic sites with model systems of F₁₆CuPc and CuPc” was published on Frontiers of Optoelectronics (Apr. 28, 2022).

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Reference: Yuan Liu, Xu Lian, Zhangdi Xie, Jinlin Yang, Yishui Ding, Wei Chen. Probing fluorination promoted sodiophilic sites with model systems of F₁₆CuPc and CuPc. Front. Optoelectron. 15, 19 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-022-00026-3

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Frontiers of Optoelectronics (FOE) aims at introducing the most recent research results and the cutting edge improvements in the area of photonics and optoelectronics. It is dedicated to be an important information platform for rapid communication and exchange between researchers in the related areas. The journal publishes review articles, research articles, letters, comments, special issues, and so on. The Editors-in-Chief are Academician Qihuang Gong from Peking University and Prof. Xinliang Zhang from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. FOE has been indexed by ESCI, Ei, SCOPUS, CSCD, Source Journals for Chinese Scientific and Technical Papers and Citations, etc. FOE is fully open access since 2022.