Abstract
Natural plants consist of a hierarchical architecture featuring an intricate network of highly interconnected struts and channels that not only ensure extraordinary structural stability, but also allow efficient transport of nutrients and electrolytes throughout the entire plants. Here we show that a hyperaccumulation effect can allow efficient enrichment of selected metal ions (for example, Sn2+, Mn2+) in the halophytic plants, which can then be converted into three-dimensional carbon/metal oxide (3DC/MOx) nanocomposites with both the composition and structure hierarchy. The nanocomposites retain the 3D hierarchical porous network structure, with ultrafine MOx nanoparticles uniformly distributed in multi-layers of carbon derived from the cell wall, cytomembrane and tonoplast. It can simultaneously ensure efficient electron and ion transport and help withstand the mechanical stress during the repeated electrochemical cycles, enabling the active material to combine high specific capacities typical of batteries and the cycling stability of supercapacitors.
Highlights
Natural plants consist of a hierarchical architecture featuring an intricate network of highly interconnected struts and channels that ensure extraordinary structural stability, and allow efficient transport of nutrients and electrolytes throughout the entire plants
The creation of artificial hierarchical architectures that can mimic natural system with both composition and structure hierarchy has the potential to enable a new generation of materials with tailored microstructures and porosity across multiple length scales and open up totally new technology opportunities in areas ranging from electronics, photonics to energy[7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,19,20,21,22]
The metal salts are selectively absorbed by the roots, translocated to and accumulated throughout the entire plant, including the stems, branches and leaves
Summary
Natural plants consist of a hierarchical architecture featuring an intricate network of highly interconnected struts and channels that ensure extraordinary structural stability, and allow efficient transport of nutrients and electrolytes throughout the entire plants. The nanocomposites retain the 3D hierarchical porous network structure, with ultrafine MOx nanoparticles uniformly distributed in multilayers of carbon derived from the cell wall, cytomembrane and tonoplast It can simultaneously ensure efficient electron and ion transport and help withstand the mechanical stress during the repeated electrochemical cycles, enabling the active material to combine high specific capacities typical of batteries and the cycling stability of supercapacitors. The resulting 3DC/MOx nanocomposites feature a 3D carbon backbone with intertwined microscale struts and nanoscale branches to ensure mechanical strength and facile electron transport; a hierarchical porous structure with highly interconnected micro-channels and nano-channels for highly efficient ion transport throughout the entire network to reach the innermost pores; and uniformly distributed MOx nanoparticles in multi-layers of carbon derived from the cell wall, cytomembrane and tonoplast with sufficient internal void spaces to accommodate the volume change and mechanical stress during the repeated electrochemical cycles. We show a 3DC/SnOx nanocomposite derived from Suaeda glauca (S. glauca) Bunge can function as a highly robust lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery anode with a reversible capacity as high as 802 mAh g À 1 at a current density of 625 mA g À 1 for over 3,000 cycles in repeated charge–discharge test over 1 year; and a reversible capacity of 341 mAh g À 1 over 11,000 cycles at a current density of 12,500 mA g À 1, an impressive rate capability that is 30–100 times higher than that of the graphite anodes in today’s Li-ion batteries
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