Review on recent progress in Manganese-based anode materials for sodium-ion batteries

The emerging sodium-ion (Na-ion) batteries have drawn great attention as alternative means of energy storage because of their low cost and resource availability. However, designing electrode materials with outstanding performances and excellent cycling efficiency remains a significant obstacle because of the substantial mass and large radius of Na-ions. Because of their high theoretical specific capacity and low cost, manganese (Mn)-based materials have greater potential to be explored compared with other transition-metal oxide anodes. From their current state of the art, the utilisations of Mn-based anode materials, including MnO, MnO2, Mn2O3, Mn3O4, MnCo2O4, MnFe2O4 and MnS and their carbonaceous composites/oxides supported with different morphologies and compositions are still far from meeting the expected target of applications. Thus, comprehensive analyses and researches to tailor the interactions between the structural, morphology and electrochemical properties of the Mn-based anode materials are crucial to enable the success of the commercialisation of Na-ion batteries through material engineering strategies. In this review, we focus on the recent developments in Mn-based materials utilised as an anode for Na-ion batteries. The remaining problems along with the perspectives on the future development of this type of materials are also discussed.