Preparation of Na3V2(PO4)3 Cathode Materials by Hydrothermal Assisted Sol-Gel Method for Sodium -Ion Batteries

Na3V2(PO4)3 (NVP) cathode material of the sodium ion battery (1 C=117 mAh g-1) has a NASICON-type structure, which not only facilitates the rapid migration of sodium ions, but also has a small volume deformation during sodium ion de-intercalation and the main frame mechanism remains unchanged, and thus is seen as an energy storage material for a wide range of applications, but has a limited electronic conductivity due to its structure. In this paper, NVP cathode materials with finer primary particles are successfully prepared using a simple hydrothermal treatment-assisted sol-gel method. The increased pore size of the NVP materials prepared under the hydrothermal process allows for more active sites and more effective resistance to the volume deformation of sodium ions during insertion/extraction processes, effectively facilitating the diffusion of ions and electrons. The Na3V2(PO4)3 material obtained by the optimized process exhibited good crystallinity in XRD characterization, as well as superior electrochemical properties in a series of electrochemical tests. A specific capacitance of 106.3 mAh g-1 at 0.2 C is demonstrated, compared to 96.5 mAh g-1 for Na3V2(PO4)3 without hydrothermal treatment, and cycling performance is also improved with 93% capacity retention. The calculated sodium ion diffusion coefficient (DNa = 5.68 × 10-14) obtained after EIS curve fitting of the improved sample illustrates that the pore structure is beneficial to the performance of the Na3V2(PO4)3 cathode material.