Journal article 55 views 23 downloads
Sodium tetraphenylborate: a fluorine-free electrolyte salt for sodium-ion batteries
,
James M. Courtney,
Kyle G. Pearce ,
Daniel Curtis ,
Marcin Orzech ,
Sajad Kiani ,
Brent de Boode,
Serena Margadonna
Energy Advances
Swansea University Authors:
Daniel Curtis , Marcin Orzech , Sajad Kiani , Serena Margadonna
-
PDF | Version of Record
This article is licensed under a e Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported licence.
Download (2.64MB)
DOI (Published version): 10.1039/d5ya00361j
Abstract
Sodium-ion batteries are a promising emerging technology due to the low cost and wide abundance of sodium, but commonly use fluorine-containing electrolyte salts, such as sodium hexafluorophosphate (NaPF6), which pose safety and toxicity concerns (e.g. HF formation). This work investigates using sod...
| Published in: | Energy Advances |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2753-1457 |
| Published: |
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
2026
|
| Online Access: |
Check full text
|
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71960 |
| Abstract: |
Sodium-ion batteries are a promising emerging technology due to the low cost and wide abundance of sodium, but commonly use fluorine-containing electrolyte salts, such as sodium hexafluorophosphate (NaPF6), which pose safety and toxicity concerns (e.g. HF formation). This work investigates using sodium tetraphenylborate (NaBPh4) as a non-fluorinated electrolyte salt for sodium-ion batteries. Multinuclear NMR spectroscopy studies revealed NaBPh4 has excellent stability towards atmospheric air and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed this salt has good thermal stability, providing convenient handling, transport and storage. Bulk conductivity measurements using NaBPh4 in ethylene carbonate: diethyl carbonate (EC:DEC 1 : 1 v/v) at different concentrations found 0.5 M NaBPh4 gave the highest conductivity. Battery cycling in coin cells using a Prussian white (Na2Fe[Fe(CN)6]) cathode and hard carbon anode with an upper cut-off voltage of 3.6 V showed poor capacity retention, however, lowering the upper voltage limit to 3.0 V gave stable cycling, albeit at lower capacity. Solution-state NMR spectroscopy studies on the post-cycled electrolyte found degradation of NaBPh4 occurs during cycling, with triphenylborane and biphenyl hypothesised as likely electrochemical oxidation products. |
|---|---|
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Funders: |
SM acknowledges support from the Royal Society through an Industry Fellowship (IF\R2\23200112). DMCO and SM also acknowledge funding from the Faraday Institution through the Industry SPRINT programme (grant number FIRG074) and Batri Ltd for supply of hard carbon. |