Anthracite-based reduced graphene oxide/antimony composites as anode materials for high performance sodium ion batteries

As a viable alternative to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), sodium ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted much more attentions. Herein, anthracite-based reduced graphene oxide/antimony (ARGO/SbX) composites have been successfully prepared as high performance anodes for SIBs. The anode composites have been synthesized by in situ reduction of Sb3+ provided by SbCl3 into Sb particles anchored onto the ARGO surface with the aid of NaBH4 and followed by annealing at 550 ℃ for 2 h. As designed, ARGO/SbX based SIBs can display high specific capacity, superior rate capability (527 mAh g−1 at 0.03 A g−1, 117 mAh g−1 at 10 A g−1), and good cycling stability (77 % of the initial capacity after 1000 cycles at 1 A g−1). The present research provides one low cost and high performance coal-based carbon anodes, which are supposed to accelerate the development of SIBs toward future large-scale applications.