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  • 22
    Dec

    PHD-CHEMISTRY DISSERTATION DEFENSE

    Date: December 22, 2025
    Time: 11:00 AM
    Location: Online via Zoom

    Speaker: Irfan Ullah
    Supervisor: Dr. Irshad Hussain
    Student(s): Irfan Ullah

    Title: Stabilization of Polyoxometalates and Prussian Blue on Metal-organic Frameworks as Promising Electrode Materials for Sodium-ion Batteries Abstract: The worldwide transition toward sustainable energy is driving an urgent need for advanced, scalable, and economically viable energy-storage technologies. Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), powered by earth-abundant sodium, offer a promising alternative to lithium systems but remain limited by the performance of existing electrode materials. This dissertation presents a unified materials-design framework that strategically integrates polyoxometalates (POMs) and Prussian Blue analogues (PBAs) into metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to address key challenges in capacity, cycling stability, and ion transport. The work begins with an overview of sodium-ion battery development and the need for hybrid electrode architectures. A molecular engineering approach is then introduced to stabilize a vanadium-tungsten POM (Na6PV3W9O40) within a cobalt-based MOF (CoATP), forming a layered, electrochemically active anode. This PVW@CoATP hybrid delivers a high reversible capacity of 413 mAh g-1 and 84% retention over 1,000 cycles. The study advances to cathode design through the encapsulation of sodium decavanadate (NaDV) inside Mn-BTC MOFs using a “bottle-around-ship” strategy, achieving 137 mAh g-1 with excellent stability. A second cathode system is then developed by growing ultrasmall NiCo-PBA onto carbon-doped Mn2O3 nanorods derived from Mn-BTC, forming a continuous conductive network with capacities up to 136 mAh g-1 and strong cycling performance in both aqueous and non-aqueous electrolytes. Finally, NaDV is confined within hollow Prussian Blue nanocubes to create a core-shell cathode with enhanced active-site accessibility and improved electrochemical durability. Collectively, these results establish a coherent pathway for tailoring SIB electrodes through rational hybridization. The demonstrated POM- and PBA-MOF architectures not only advance high-performance sodium-ion batteries but also lay the groundwork for future solid-state designs, contributing to safer, more efficient, and scalable energy-storage technologies.

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