Recent Advances in Fast-Charging Sodium-Ion Batteries

Sodium-ion batteries (SIB), stemming from the abundance of sodium resources and their cost-effectiveness, have positioning them favorably a potential candidate for stationary energy storage and public electric vehicles. As an intermediary of the grid system and output terminals of the charging station, fast-charging performance has actually become a crucial metric, which greatly relates to the charging station utilization and cost- and time-efficient. Besides, the fast-charging capacity is also relevant to the long-term stable operation public transportation. Given the remarkable advancements in fast-charging SIBs reported recently, a review about this topic and scope is timely and important at present. In this study, the bottlenecks of fast-charging SIBs are first assessed, after that, a comprehensive overview of the employed strategies for improving the fast-charging capacities of SIBs from three aspects: structures design, reaction mechanism regulation, and optimization of solvation structure and interfacial property is given. Finally, challenges and prospects for further research toward fast-charging SIBs are proposed. The authors hope this review will provide a deep understanding of the design principles of fast-charging SIBs and inspire more endeavors to conquer the practicability issue of SIBs in energy storage fields.