Porous MnCO3 hierarchical micro/nano cubes with superior lithium storage performances

Abstract

Manganese carbonates (MnCO3) is emerging as new possible anode of lithium power batteries. In the present research, a porous MnCO3 hierarchical micro/nano cubes have been prepared by a hydrothermal reaction method. Field emission-scanning electron microscopy showed that these cubes (5 ~ 10 µm in edges) were constructed by the primary nanoparticles (about 20 nm). The surface area of the as-prepared cubes MnCO3 was 42.5 m2 g−1 and the pore size was about 7 nm. A possible formation mechanism of the as-prepared hierarchical micro/nano cubes was suggested. When employed as anode material of Li+ half cells, The discharge capacity of 834 mAh g−1 with 98.3% retention corresponding to the 30th cycle at 0.1 C was achieved after 100 cycles, and the discharge capacity could be retained at about 200 mAh g−1 even at very high current density (5 C), implying a great application prospect in lithium ion batteries. The excellent lithium storage performances could be attributed the unique three dimensional hierarchical micro/nano structures.