Graphitic SiC: A Promising Anode Material for Na-ion Battery with
Extremely High Storage Capacity
Abstract
Bulk SiC phases with tetrahedral arrangements have been identified
several decades ago, and have been widely studied due to their potential
applications. Until recently, Yaghoubi et al.’s experimental results
(Chem. Mater. 2018, 30, 7234) showed that the graphitic SiC with few SiC
layers stacking is stable. In this work, we further explore the
potential application of graphitic SiC as the Na-ion battery anode via
the first-principle simulation. Our results reveal that the theoretical
capacity of graphitic SiC reaches up to 1339.44 mAh/g, which is almost
the highest among the already known Na-ion battery anodes. Together with
the low diffusion barrier, moderate open circuit voltage and excellent
electronic conductivity during the sodiation, we propose that the
graphitic SiC is a promising material as Na-ion battery anode. More
importantly, we find that the intercalation strength of Na ions into
C-based multi-layer materials (or the corresponding theoretical
capacity, the operation voltage) could be enhanced by increasing the
amount of covalent components in Na‒C bonds, which could be realized via
doping by atom (such as Li, Be, B, Al, Si or P) with lower
electronegativity than that of C atom.