Surprises with tin as electrode material for sodium ion batteries

Tin is an attractive electrode material for sodium ion batteries. However, the large volume expansion during charge storage usually leads to poor long-term stability, which is why carbon is important as a carrier material. In a new work of the Adelhelm working group in cooperation with scientists from Münster and Beijing, the storage behaviour of tin could be improved and investigated in more detail by a simple approach. For this purpose, a composite material based on graphite, melamine and tin was produced. The approach leads to a significantly lower volume expansion of the electrode, which greatly improves long-term stability. A closer look at the storage behaviour also revealed a surprising memory effect of tin. First author of the work is Dr. Thangavelu Palaniselvam, who has been working as a Humboldt fellow in Jena for two years.

The original work titled "Sodium Storage and Electrode Dynamics of Tin-Carbon Composite Electrodes from Bulk Precursors for Sodium-Ion Batteries" can be found hereExternal link.