Synthesis and Electrochemical Performance of Acetylene Gas Decomposed Fe-Based Layered Oxide Cathode Material for Sodium-Ion Batteries

Sodium ion batteries (SIBs) surfacing into the market as one of the ordinate for electrical energy storage devices owing to plenty of raw material in nature and lower cost than well establish lithium ion battery technology. Therefore, the present study focuses on synthesis and electrochemical performance of the pristine NaFeO2 and C2H2 decomposed (carbon coated) NaFeO_2. A well crystallized, single phase O3-type α-NaFeO_2 was produced via solid-state method at 550 ℃. X-ray diffraction patterns of the synthesized sample confirm the crystallinity and phase, followed by Rietveld refinement which confirms the Rhombohedral structure with R3 m space group. Particle morphology, distribution, shape and size were studied using SEM and the average crystallite size of 0.415 μm was obtained from Image J software. Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) proves the presence of Sodium and Iron are in the accordance to the stoichiometry of the synthesized compound. Electrochemical testing evident the more electrochemically stable and less resistive electrode is observed for carbon coated NaFeO_2.