Engineering Ultrathin Carbon Layer on Porous Hard Carbon Boosts Sodium Storage with High Initial Coulombic Efficiency

Hard carbon (HC) has been widely adopted as the anode material for sodium ion batteries (NIBs). However, it is troubled by a low initial Coulombic efficiency (ICE) due to its porous structure. Herein, a graphitized and ultrathin carbon layer coating on HC is proposed to solve this challenge. The as-prepared porous carbon material coated with an ultrathin carbon layer composite (PCS@V@C) exhibits a cavity structure, which is prepared by using bis(cyclopentadienyl) nickel (CP-Ni) as the carbon source for outer coating, glucose carbon spheres as porous carbon, and introducing a silica layer to facilitate the coating process. When utilized as the anode for NIBs, the material shows an ICE increase from 47.1% to 85.3%, and specific capacity enhancement at 0.1 A g^-1 from 155.3 to 216.7 mA h g^-1. Moreover, its rate capability and cycling performance are outstanding, demonstrating a capacity of 140.3 mA h g^-1 at 10 A g^-1, and a retaining capacity of 225.6 mA h g^-1 after 300 cycles at 0.1 A g^-1 with the Coulombic efficiency of 100% at the second cycle. The excellent electrochemical performance of the PCS@V@C is attributed to the ultrathin carbon layer, which is beneficial for the formation of a stable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) film. Therefore, this study provides a feasible surface modification method for the preparation of anode materials for NIBs with high specific capacity and ICE.