Sodium Difluoro(oxalato)borate Additive-Induced Robust SEI and CEI Layers Enable Dendrite-Free and Long-Cycling Sodium-Ion Batteries

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are a promising candidate for large-scale energy storage due to the low cost and abundant sodium resources. However, the formation of sodium dendrites on the surface of hard carbon (HC) anodes is the most intractable challenge for full cells during charging, leading to severe performance degradation and safety hazards. Here, a robust additive-induced borate and fluoride-rich interphase is constructed by introducing sodium difluoro(oxalato)borate (NaDFOB) as additive in the ether-based electrolyte to relieve the performance deterioration for SIBs. NaDFOB can participate in the passivation process of electrolyte-electrode interfaces through preferential oxidation and reduction of DFOB- to effectively restrain the growth of sodium dendrites. Moreover, the electrolyte decomposition and dissolution of transition metal ions are effectively inhibited. Benefiting from that, FeMn-based Prussian blue (FeMnHCF) || HC full cell with a negative/positive capacity ratio (N/P ratio) of 1.09 displays a capacity retention of 82.1%, especially with a low N/P ratio of 0.96 the cell still demonstrates a stable Coulombic efficiency of over 99.9% after 500 cycles via using NaDFOB as additive. As a practical demonstration, the designed 18650 full cells display enhanced cycling stability with NaDFOB additive. The findings provide insights into the additive-induced inorganic-rich interfacial layers for dendrite-free SIBs. The NaDFOB additive can be preferentially decomposed forming inorganic borate and fluoride-rich SEI and CEI with high interfacial energy and mechanical strength to restrain the growth of sodium dendrites. Thus, the cycling capability of FeMnHCF || HC full cells is significantly lengthened by effectively inhibiting the electrolyte decomposition and dissolution of transition metal ions. image