Engineering hard carbon with high initial coulomb efficiency for practical sodium-ion batteries

Although hard carbons holds the most promise as anodes for practical sodium-ion batteries, high cost and low initial coulomb efficiency (ICE) limit their commercial application. In the present work, we develop an efficient solvothermal stabilization method to fabricate hard carbon spheres with high carbon yield from the wheat starch precursor. As anode for sodium-ion batteries, the obtained samples deliver not only a high capacity above 300 mAh g−1, but also an enhanced initial coulombic efficiency up to 90% and long cycle stability. Furthermore, when coupled with Na0.9[Cu0.22Fe0.30Mn0.48]O2 as cathode electrode, the full cell exhibited a high ICE of 85%, an average voltage of 3.2V and excellent stability during 300 cycles charging and discharging. These desirable electrochemical performances, combined with the renewable precursor and efficient synthesis route, make the obtained hard carbon sphere a promising anode for practical material for sodium-ion batteries.