Computational Study on Sodium Metal Platting on Pre-patterned Current Collector for Highly Rechargeable Seawater Battery

Abstract

Clean energy resources and storage have received immense attention to address various issues related with global warming and climate change. Li-ion battery has been widely used as the prime clean energy storage. Despite extensive research and development on Li-ion battery technology, tremendous increase in Li metal demand has become another concern. Seawater battery has emerged as a promising energy storage to address this concern owing to the abundance supply of sodium ions. However, dendrite growth during charge-discharge cycles poses a significant challenge on Na battery performance and safety. To mitigate this issue, we presented an in-depth study to determine Na metal growth on the current collector. We used Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculation to elucidate Na plating preference on different metals (i.e., Au, Ag, Cu, Al, and Ni) of the pre-patterned current collector by examining interfacial stability of Na with each metal. Interfacial stability was assessed based on the work of adhesion and binding energy of each interfaces. We found that Cu/Al patterned current collector has decent interfacial stability while keeping the cost minimum.