Sodium ion batteries (SiBs) suffer from initial capacity loss (ICL) in the first cycles, caused by solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer formation and Na+ ion trapping on the hard carbon (HC) anode, leading to a reduction in active Na+ ions and con...
Sodium ion batteries (SiBs) suffer from initial capacity loss (ICL) in the first cycles, caused by solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer formation and Na+ ion trapping on the hard carbon (HC) anode, leading to a reduction in active Na+ ions and consequently a decline in energy density. To resolve this issue, extensive research has focused on the development of presodiation materials capable of compensating for active Na+ ions, effectively addressing the challenges of ICL. In this study, we proposed the MnO@NaF coated separator (MNCS) as a promising advanced functional presodiation separator for SIBs. The MNCS provides stable operation characteristics without gas release during the cycling process, compensates for additional active Na+ ions through NaF decomposition reactions and facilitates high Na+ ion transport by separating the cathode and MNCS. Based on these characteristics, by using the Na[Li0.05(Ni0.25Fe0.25Mn0.25)0.95]O2 (NLNFM) as the cathode, the NLNFM/MNCS/HC full cell demonstrated an improvement in specific discharge capacity from 104 mAh gcathode-1 to 178 mAh gcathode-1, which proved to be highly effective in compensating for ICL and remarkably enhanced rate and cycle performance compared to other materials. This research provides insight into the development of advanced functional presodiation separators for high performance SIBs.