Inorganic Battery Materials

Solid State and Materials Chemistry for Sodium‐Ion Batteries

Divya Sehrawat and Neeraj Sharma

University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Sydney, Australia

and

Jennifer H. Stansby

University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Sydney, Australia; Australia Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Sydney, Australia

1. 1 Introduction
2. 2 Electrodes and Their Mechanisms
3. 3 Electrolytes
4. 4 Mechanism—Surface Chemistry During Electrochemical Cycling
5. 5 State‐of‐the‐Art Characterization Tools
6. 6 Conclusions
7. 7 Acknowledgments
8. 8 Abbreviations and Acronyms
9. 9 References

1 Introduction

1.1 A Battery and the Rise of Lithium‐Ion Batteries

An electrochemical cell, where a battery can be multiple or single electrochemical cells, stores energy and releases it to an external circuit. Chemical energy is converted into electrical energy, and the humble battery has revolutionized our world. Primary batteries turn chemical energy into electrical energy for typically one discharge and then are discarded. A typical example is the so‐called alkaline batteries that are found in children's toys delivering about 1.4 V or so. Rechargeable or secondary batteries can have the chemical reactions inside the battery reversed numerous times and therefore can store, release, and recharge in cycles with typical examples being lead‐acid and lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs).

In all cases, electrodes are present in the battery, a cathode and an anode or a positive and negative electrode, respectively, as often referred ...