Citation: Hui Qi, Chaozheng He, Chenfei Song, Juncui Gao, Qing Gao, Weipeng Luo, Ze Zhang, Haoyu Liu, Xiaojing Yuan, Wenfeng Wu, Bohang Zhao, Lina Kong, Yayi Cheng, Ling Guo. Tailoring the exposure of active facets of FeNCN towards enhanced pseudocapacitive behavior for sodium storage[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2025, 36(11): 111591. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111591 shu

Tailoring the exposure of active facets of FeNCN towards enhanced pseudocapacitive behavior for sodium storage

Hui Qi ^{a, b} ,
Chaozheng He ^{b, *,} ,
Chenfei Song ^a ,
Juncui Gao ^a ,
Qing Gao ^a ,
Weipeng Luo ^c ,
Ze Zhang ^c ,
Haoyu Liu ^c ,
Xiaojing Yuan ^{c, *,} ,
Wenfeng Wu ^d ,
Bohang Zhao ^a ,
Lina Kong ^a ,
Yayi Cheng ^e ,
Ling Guo ^f

a.
College of Chemistry and Materials, Taiyuan Normal University, Jinzhong 030619, China
b.
Xi'an Technological University, Xi'an 710021, China
c.
Rocket Force University of Engineering, Xi'an 710025, China
d.
Quanzhou University of Information Engineering, Quanzhou 362000, China
e.
School of Materials Engineering, Xihang University, Xi'an 710077, China
f.
School of Chemical Engineering and Modern Materials, Shangluo University, Shangluo 710026, China

hecz2019@xatu.edu.cn

yuanxj2003@163.com

Received Date: 20 May 2025
Revised Date: 7 July 2025
Accepted Date: 15 July 2025
Available Online: 16 July 2025

Figures(5)

Iron carbodiimide (FeNCN) anode demonstrates significant potential for rapid sodium-ion storage owing to its high reaction activity and near-metallic conductivity. However, further development of FeNCN is hindered by inherent structural instability and ambiguous structure-kinetics correlation. In this study, FeNCN crystallites with selectively exposed (002) and {010} facets were precisely engineered and synthesized. Notably, the sodium storage kinetics and electrochemical performance of FeNCN exhibit facet-dependent variations. Polyhedral-FeNCN (P-FeNCN) dominated by {010} facets exhibited a pseudocapacitance-driven storage mechanism and delivered exceptional rate capability (372 mAh/g at 5 A/g) and long cyclability (95.8% capacity retention after 300 cycles at 0.5 A/g). In contrast, sheet-like FeNCN (S-FeNCN) with predominant (002) facet exposure displayed diffusion-limited kinetics due to sluggish ion diffusion rate. Crucially, time-resolved operando XRD analysis and DFT simulation bridge this performance gap to mechanistic origins: FeNCN as an intercalation-conversion type anode, the solid-state diffusion is the rate-determining step during charge/discharge process. Active {010} facets possess numerous broad hexagonal tunnels, coupled with a low diffusion barrier of 0.168 eV along 〈010〉 directions. This unique architectural configuration enables rapid sodium-ion transport, thereby shifting the diffusion-controlled kinetics to intercalation-pseudocapacitive behavior. This discovery establishes active facet exposure as a storage kinetic switch, offering a generalized paradigm for optimizing the rate performance and stability of sodium-ion batteries.
- Sodium-ion batteries,
- FeNCN,
- Crystal regulation,
- Active facets,
- Pseudocapacitive
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