Outstanding low temperature performance of hollow carbon sphere@MnO2 anode based on pseudo-capacitive storage mechanism

Abstract

Graphite anode suffers from severe performance fading at low temperature (LT) conditions mainly due to the suppressed diffusive Li+ storage mechanism in graphite anode at LT. Accordingly, the exploration of new type anodes with effective Li+ storage mechanism at LT is important. In this work, it is demonstrated that the utilization of the pseudo-capacitive storage mechanism could improve the Li+ storage kinetic at LT. In detail, a hybrid anode structure is designed via in-situ growth of MnO2 nanosheets on the surface of the hollow carbon spheres (HCS@MO). Benefiting from the structural advantage, the as-prepared HCS@MO-09 electrode displays high reversible capacity of 455 mAh g-1 at 1 A g-1 at room temperature (RT) after 200 cycles. At − 20 ℃, the HCS@MO-09 electrode still exhibits high initial capacity of 432 mAh g-1 at 0.2 A g-1 and outstanding cycling stability. The cyclic voltammetry tests reveal that the superior LT performance of HCS@MO-09 electrode stems from the pseudo-capacitive storage mechanism. This work provides new perspective for improving LT performance through developing anodes with pseudo-capacitive storage mechanism.