The 14th Global Conference on Materials Science and Engineering
(CMSE 2025)

Abstract: Sodium batteries have garnered widespread attention due to their abundant resources and low cost. Hard carbons are close-to-commercialized anode materials while still facing poor initial Coulombic efficiency (ICE) and an inability to enhance the plateau capacity at low voltages. On the other hand, sodium batteries constructed with high-capacity sodium metal anode via plating/stripping are considered the most potential energy storage devices for achieving high specific energy, but suffer from issues such as dendrite growth, volume expansion with unstable solid electrolyte interphases. To address these challenges, this presentation proposes strategies such as cross-linking bridge molecular regulation, heterogeneous microstructure design, and catalytic microcrystallization to construct hard carbon anode materials with low defects and rich closed pores, thereby solving the problems of low ICE and insufficient plateau capacity at low voltages. Furthermore, a series of hollow sphere materials encapsulating highly active nanoparticles have been developed. By regulating the directional distribution of sodiophilic single atoms/nanoparticles within the shell and cavity, controlled nucleation and growth of sodium metal along designed positions and directions are achieved. Additionally, a series of two-dimensional carbon-rich framework interfacial layers have been developed to achieve high sodium affinity and extremely low active sodium consumption. This resolves the inherent trade-off between sodium affinity and sodium consumption, enabling dendrite-free and long-cycle performance in anode-free sodium batteries.

Keywords: Porous carbons, seeding/hosting, hard carbon, Na metal, Na ion battery

Biography: Prof. Dr. Fei Xu, supervisor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University. He is a Humboldt Research Fellow and a recipient of the National Science Foundation for Outstanding Young Scholars. His research focuses on the design of functional polymers and carbon-based porous materials, particularly their applications in electrochemical energy storage. He has led ten national and provincial-level research projects and published over 80 SCI papers as the first or corresponding author in renowned journals, including Sci. Adv., Nat. Commun., Adv. Mater., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., and J. Am. Chem. Soc.. He holds more than 10 authorized Chinese invention patents.