Synergistic activation of anionic redox via cosubstitution to construct high-capacity layered oxide cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries

As a potential substitute for lithium-ion battery, sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted a tremendous amount of attention due to their advantages in terms of cost, safety and sustainability. Nevertheless, further improvement of the energy density of cathode materials in SIBs remains challenging and requires the activation of anion redox reaction (ARR) activity to provide additional capacity. Herein, we report a high-performance Mn-based sodium oxide cathode material, Na0.67Mg0.1Zn0.1Mn0.8O2 (NMZMO), with synergistic activation of ARR by cosubstitution. This material can deliver an ultra-high capacity of ∼233 mAh/g at 0.1 C, which is significantly higher than their single-cation-substituted counterparts and among the best in as-reported MgMn or ZnMn-based cathodes. Various spectroscopic techniques were comprehensively employed and it was demonstrated that the higher capacity of NMZMO originated from the enhanced ARR activity. Neutron pair distribution function and resonant inelastic X-ray scattering experiments revealed that out-of-plane migration of Mg/Zn occurred upon charging and oxygen anions in the form of molecular O2 were trapped in vacancy clusters in the fully-charged-state. In NMZMO, Mg and Zn mutually interacted with each other to migrate toward tetrahedral sites, which provided a prerequisite for further ARR activity enhancement to form more trapped molecular O2. These findings provide unique insight into the ARR mechanism and can guide the development of high-performance cathode materials through ARR enhancement strategies.