An Efficient Evaluation of F-doped Polyanion Cathode Materials with Long Cycle Life for Na-Ion Batteries Applications.

A series of Na3-x V2(PO4-x F x )3 (x = 0, 0.1, 0.15 and 0.3) polyanion cathode materials are synthesized via a sol-gel method. The optimal doping concentration of F in Na3V2(PO4)3 is 0.15 mol %. By neutron powder diffraction data, the chemical composition of as-synthesized material is Na2.85V2(PO3.95F0.05)3. The half-cell of Na2.85V2(PO3.95F0.05)3 cathode exhibits a stable discharge capacity of 103 mAh g-1 and 93% of capacity retention over 250 cycles without decay at 0.1 A g-1, which is higher than that of bare Na3V2(PO4)3 (98 mAh g-1). The high rate capability of Na2.85V2(PO3.95F0.05)3 is also dramatically enhanced via increase the conductivity of host material by F-doping. Moreover, the symmetrical Na-ion full-cell is fabricated using Na2.85V2(PO3.95F0.05)3 as cathode and anode materials. It is achieved that the good reversibility and superior cycling stability about 98% of capacity retention with ~100% of coulombic efficiency at 1.0 A g-1 throughout 1000 cycles. These results demonstrate that the optimal amount of Na2.85V2(PO3.95F0.05)3 is a distinctive potential candidate for excellent long-term cyclic stability with high rate low-cost energy storage applications.