Recent Advances in Developing Hybrid Materials for Sodium-Ion Battery Anodes

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are an attractive prospect for energy storage in applications ranging from portable devices to large-scale energy storage grids. However, practical application of SIBs is hindered by their large size and concomitant sluggish kinetics. The hybridization strategy has been widely utilized as one of the effective ways to facilitate the enhancement of battery performance of the SIB electrodes. A combination of transition metal compounds and carbonaceous species is a popular hybrid that could offer a wide range of possibilities for fabricating high-performance and long-lasting SIB anodes. This Review specifically highlights hybridization strategies of transition metal compounds, including metal oxides, metal sulfides, metal phosphides, and metal carbides with different carbon species. Systematic discussion of the Na+-ion storage mechanism in these hybrids has been given special importance. The effect of the hybridization on SIB performance is comprehensively covered in this Review to gauge the full impact of these materials as promising SIB anodic materials for the future.