Developing Manganese- and Iron-Rich Cathodes for Sodium-Ion Batteries

Decarbonizing transportation, grid and industries require low-cost batteries made from abundant, environmentally friendly, sustainable elements in the critical minerals supply chain. To this regard, Mn- and Fe-rich sodium-ion battery cathodes are particularly interesting. However, the practical use of these materials is inhibited by their structural instability upon deep desodiation. In this talk, I will present how my group is combining insights from advanced computational (both ground and excited state) experimental (electrochemistry, x-ray scattering and electron microscopy) techniques 1) to prevent structural disorder during deep desodiation via thermodynamic and kinetic design principles and 2) to develop environmentally sustainable cathodes