Physicochemical properties of Na<inf>x</inf>CoO<inf>2</inf> as a cathode for solid state sodium battery

An intercalation compound with composition Na0.7CoO2 has been synthesized through different preparative techniques such as solid state reaction, ball milling and sol gel techniques. The investigation reveals that the cathode material with an average particle size of about 500 nm of uniform morphology can be synthesized through sol gel technique. Further, this synthesis technique improves the stoichiometry of the sodium content significantly. The electrical resistivity of these cathode materials is found to be in the range of 4 to 12 mΩ-cm at 300 K. It has been observed that, the resistivity of the cathode material increases with increase in sodium content. The electrochemical cells with the configuration Na

[wt.% 0.3 PEO-0.7 PEG]6:NaPO3

composite cathode material, have shown an open circuit voltage (OCV) value of 2.7 V. The (OCV) of the cells with the cathode prepared by sol-gel and ball milling route has shown a plateau region of about 40 h, when compared to the plateau region of 10 h for the battery with the cathode prepared by solid state reaction. The reduction in the particle size of the cathode material has improved the stability of the electrode electrolyte interface and thereby discharges characteristics. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.