Phase-Transition Engineering Enables Low-Strain Cathodes for 192 Wh kg^{- 1} Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Authors

Shufen Ye, Yilin Zhang, Junjie Ding, Guihong Mao, Zhenyu Guo, Xuekun Lu, Yiru Huang, Hai Yang, Hanyu Huo, Peng Tan, Yu Jiang, Laifa Shen, Ruilin Bai, Jialong Shen, Shuo Wang, Yu Yao, Yucheng Wu, Yan Yu

Published in

Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.). Pages e74333. Jul 28, 2026. Epub Jul 28, 2026.

Abstract

Phase transitions in sodium layered transition metal (TM) oxides often induce microstrain and TM ion migration, leading to structural degradation and poor cycling stability. However, a rational design approach for optimizing phase transitions is still lacking. Here we introduce phase transition potential (Φ_phase) as a rational descriptor to predict and control phase evolution in these cathodes. A lower Φ_phase enables smoother Na⁺ migration and slower slab sliding during Na extraction, thereby facilitating a continuous phase transformation rather than abrupt phase changes. Guided by this concept, we design a calcium-substituted layered oxide, Na_0.96Ca_0.02Ni_0.33Fe_0.33Mn_0.33O₂ (NCNFMO), which delivers a specific capacity of 140 mAh g^-1 at 0.1 C and retains 84.2% of its initial capacity after 500 cycles at 1 C, compared to only 26.4% retention for NaNi_0.33Fe_0.33Mn_0.33O₂. Moreover, the NCNFMO||Al@C full cell maintains a high-capacity retention of 82.5% after 100 cycles, and 6.1 Ah full cell demonstrates an energy density of 192 Wh kg^-1 _{entire cell}. These findings offer fundamental insights into phase behavior-induced microstrain and a promising path toward high-energy, long-life sodium-ion batteries.

PMID:
42517694
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 28 Jul 2026.

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