Heteroatom-Doped Carbon Materials: Synthesis, Mechanism, and Application for Sodium-Ion Batteries

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) show promising application in large-scale energy storage as future alternatives to lithium-ion batteries. Carbonaceous materials are attractive anode candidates for SIBs due to low cost, abundance, and high safety. In general, doping heteroatoms such as N, B, O, S, and P in carbon-based materials gives rise to high electronic mobility, good sodium mobility, and enhanced capacity, showing a great potential in sodium storage. This review summarizes the recent progress in the design, synthesis, and electrochemical properties of heteroatom-doped carbon anodes, including one-element doped carbons and several-elements codoped carbons, aiming to help the readers comprehensively learn how to fabricate heteroatom-doped carbons and use them in SIBs. Additionally, the advantages, mechanism, critical issues, and possible solutions of heteroatom-doped carbons are discussed and the future research trends are proposed. This will provide a deep insight into the development of SIBs anode materials.