Ethers Illume Sodium-Based Battery Chemistry: Uniqueness, Surprise, and Challenges

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have the potential to be practically applied in large-scale energy storage markets. The rapid progress of SIBs research is primarily focused on electrodes, while electrolytes attract less attention. Indeed, the improvement of electrode performance is arguably correlated with the electrolyte optimization. In conventional lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), ether-based electrolytes are historically less practical owing to the insufficient passivation of both anodes and cathodes. As an important class of aprotic electrolytes, ethers have revived with the emerging lithium-sulfur and lithium-oxygen batteries in recent years, and are even booming in the wave of SIBs. Ether-based electrolytes are unique to enabling these new battery chemistries in terms of producing stable ternary graphite intercalation compounds, modifying anode solid electrolyte interphases, reducing the solubility of intermediates, and decreasing polarization. Better still, ether-based electrolytes are compatible with specific inorganic cathodes and could catalyze the assembly of full SIBs prototypes. This Research News article aims to summarize the recent critical reports on ether-based electrolytes in sodium-based batteries, to unveil the uniqueness of ether-based electrolytes to advancing diverse electrode materials, and to shed light on the viability and challenges of ether-based electrolytes in future sodium-based battery chemistries.