Preparation of carbon layer and carbon nanotube co-decorated NaTi2(PO4)3 anode and its application in sodium-ion batteries

In this work, the carbon layer and carbon nanotube have been adopted to improve the low electronic conductivity of NaTi2(PO4)3 anode for electrochemical sodium-ion storage. This designed composite is successfully prepared using a facile sol-gel route followed by the solid-state reaction. The SEM and TEM images reveal that the well crystallized NaTi2(PO4)3@C particles are uniformly dispersed and embedded in the CNT. In this composite, the formed conducting networks constructed by carbon layer and CNT can greatly facilitate the transport of electron/ion. Therefore, the as-prepared anode shows high reversible capacity of 128.1 mAh g−1 at 0.2 °C, good rate capability of 94.3 mAh g−1 at 10 °C and excellent cycling property with high capacity retention of 94.2% after 200 cycles at 2 °C. These results prove that the carbon layer and CNT co-decorated NaTi2(PO4)3 composite is a promising anode material for rechargeable sodium-ion batteries.