Electrochemical Charge and Discharge Performance of Perovskite-Type Oxide La1−x Na x FeO3 (x = 0–0.8) in Alkaline Solution

LaFeO3 as a new negative electrode material for nickel-hydrogen batteries used as energy storage has the advantages of high capacity, advanced temperature resistance, and low cost. However, its conductivity and dynamic performance are poor, seriously hindering its applications. In light of increasing concentration of oxygen vacancies and improving conductivity after replacing A-site elements of the material, here we synthesize low-priced Na doping LaFeO3 oxides, La1−xNaxFeO3 (x = 0–0.8), as the negative electrode by a solid-state reaction method. Studies show that doping Na can reduce particle aggregation, thus helping to increase the surface area of LaFeO3. Therefore, its discharge capacity remarkably increases to 356.7 mAh g–1 (x = 0.6) from 178.8 mAh g–1 (x = 0) at 60 °C, which also maintains 73.4% after 100 cycles for La0.4Na0.6FeO3, elevated by 55.1% compared to LaFeO3. In addition, the high rate discharge ability of an La0.4Na0.6FeO3 electrode at a discharge current density of 1500 mA g–1 reaches 30.7% in contrast to 11.2% for undoped LaFeO3. As such, the La0.4Na0.6FeO3 material with superior cycling capacity is proven to be a more promising electrochemical hydrogen storage electrode compared to LaFeO3, which greatly increases the practical application value of the material.