China Nonferrous Metallurgy

Sodium sulfur battery is an excellent electrochemical energy storage power. β″-Al₂O₃ electrolyte ceramic is the core material of sodium sulfur battery, which directly determines the performance, production process and cost of sodium-sulfur battery. The lamellar boehmite is suitable as the precursor for the preparation of layered β″-Al₂O₃ In the paper, β″-Al₂O₃ was prepared at 1280℃ using α-Al2O3, γ-Al2O3 and boehmite as alumina precursors and NaHCO₃ as sodium oxide source. The effect on β″-Al₂O₃ formation behavior of different alumina precursors, amounts of NaHCO₃ and temperature were studied. The phase composition and microstructure of the as-prepared β″-Al2O3 were analyzed, respectively, by X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. β″-Al₂O₃ co-existing with α-Al₂O₃ was obtained when using α-Al₂O₃ and γ-Al₂O₃ were used, whereas, phase-pure β″-Al₂O₃ was prepared by calcining the mixture of boehmite and 22 wt% of NaHCO₃ at 1280℃. The phase-pure β″-Al₂O₃ particles did not agglomerate and showed a sheet-like morphology with a thickness of about 1μm.