Probing Sodium Storage Mechanism in Hollow Carbon Nanospheres Using Liquid Phase Transmission Electron Microscopy

Carbonaceous materials are promising sodium-ion battery anodes. Improving their performance requires a detailed understanding of the ion transport in these materials, some important aspects of which are still under debate. In this work, nitrogen-doped porous hollow carbon spheres (N-PHCSs) are employed as a model system for operando analysis of sodium storage behavior in a commercial liquid electrolyte at the nanoscale. By combining the ex situ characterization at different states of charge with operando transmission electron microscopy experiments, it is found that a solvated ionic layer forms on the surface of N-PHCSs at the beginning of sodiation, followed by the irreversible shell expansion due to the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation and subsequent storage of Na(0) within the porous carbon shell. This shows that binding between Na(0) and C creates a Schottky junction making Na deposition inside the spheres more energetically favorable at low current densities. During sodiation, the SEI fills the gap between N-PHCSs, binding spheres together and facilitating the sodium ions' transport toward the current collector and subsequent plating underneath the electrode. The N-PHCSs layer acts as a protective layer between the electrolyte and the current collector, suppressing the possible growth of dendrites at the anode.