Facile Stabilization of the Sodium Metal Anode with Additives: Unexpected Key Role of Sodium Polysulfide and Adverse Effect of Sodium Nitrate

Abstract

Sodium metal is an attractive anode for next-generation energy storage systems owing to its high specific capacity, low cost, and high abundance. Nevertheless, uncontrolled Na dendrite growth caused by the formation of unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) leads to poor cycling performance and severe safety concerns. Sodium polysulfide (Na₂ S₆ ) alone is revealed to serve as a positive additive or pre-passivation agent in ether electrolyte to improve the long-term stability and reversibility of the Na anode, while Na₂ S₆ -NaNO₃ as co-additive has an adverse effect, contrary to the prior findings in the lithium anode system. A superior cycling behavior of Na anode is first demonstrated at a current density up to 10 mA cm^-2 and a capacity up to 5 mAh cm^-2 over 100 cycles. As a proof of concept, a high-capacity Na-S battery was prepared by pre-passivating the Na anode with Na₂ S₆ . This study gives insights into understanding the differences between Li and Na systems.