Top-down synthesis of interconnected two-dimensional carbon/antimony hybrids as advanced anodes for sodium storage

Nanoparticle-based electrode materials have sparked enormous excitement in the sodium-ion battery community because of potentially fast transport kinetics. However, they may suffer from many challenging static and dynamic problems, such as agglomeration of nanoparticles, high contact resistance, volume change, and instability of solid electrolyte interphase. Herein, we develop inter-connected 2D carbon nanosheets in which ultrasmall 0D Sb nanodots are embedded homogenously through a previously unexplored top-down strategy. Starting from the laminar structure K3Sb3P2O14, H3Sb3P2O14 nanosheets are exfoliated by ion exchange and then serve as templates for the synthesis of carbon sheets and Sb nanodots. Such combination of multi-dimensional and multi- scale nanostructures in the electrode materials lead to excellent electron/ion transport kinetics and pronounced integrity of the electrode structure on cycling, providing a promising pathway for developing advanced electrode materials in terms of reversibility, rate capability and cycle life.