Speakers

​​​​​​The accelerating demand for electric vehicles and grid-scale energy storage has increased the need for sustainable and cost-effective alternatives to lithium-ion batteries. Sodium-ion batteries are promising because sodium is abundant and economically attractive; however, their practical energy density is often limited by the relatively low capacity of conventional hard-carbon anodes. Conversion- and alloy-type materials offer substantially higher theoretical capacities, but their application is hindered by large volume changes, sluggish sodium-ion reaction kinetics, and unstable electrode interfaces during repeated cycling.
In this talk, we present a series of studies on SiOC-based heterostructured composite anodes incorporating conversion- and alloy-type active materials. The role of heterostructure design in addressing the intrinsic limitations of these materials is discussed, with emphasis on mitigating structural degradation, improving interfacial stability, and promoting efficient sodium storage. The multifunctional SiOC framework also helps suppress active-material aggregation and accommodate repeated volume changes during cycling.
Comprehensive structural, chemical, and electrochemical characterization, together with post-mortem analysis, was used to clarify the relationship between heterostructure architecture and sodium-storage behavior. The resulting composites exhibited enhanced reversible capacity, improved cycling stability, and reduced electrode degradation compared with conventional conversion- and alloy-based electrodes. These improvements are attributed to the synergistic interaction between the high-capacity active phases and the resilient SiOC framework. Overall, the findings demonstrate that SiOC-based heterostructure engineering is an effective strategy for developing durable, high-capacity anodes for next-generation sodium-ion batteries and practical energy-storage applications.​