Abstract
Lack of high-performance cathode materials has become the major barriers to lithium-ion battery applications in advanced communication equipment and electric vehicles. In this paper, we report a versatile interfacial reaction strategy, which is based on the idea of space confinement, for the synthesis of ultradispersed LiV3O8 nanoparticles (~10 nm) on graphene (denoted as LVO NPs-GNs) with an unprecedented degree of control on the separation and manipulation of the nucleation, growth, anchoring, and crystallization of nanoparticles in a water-in-oil emulsion system over free growth in solution. The prepared LVO NPs-GNs composites displayed high performance as an cathode material for lithium-ion battery, including high reversible lithium storage capacity (237 mA h g−1 after 200 cycles), high Coulombic efficiency (about 98%), excellent cycling stability and high rate capability (as high as 176 mA h g−1 at 0.9 A g−1, 128 mA h g−1 at 1.5 A g−1, 91 mA h g−1 at 3 A g−1 and 59 mA h g−1 at 6 A g−1, respectively). Very significantly, the preparation method employed can be easily adapted and may opens the door to complex hybrid materials design and engineering with graphene for advanced energy storage.
Highlights
With the advantages of high energy density, long lifespan and environmental benignity, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have become the predominant power source for applications in electric vehicles (EVs), and renewable energy storage in smart grids[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]
We report a versatile interfacial reaction strategy, which is based on the idea of space confinement, for the synthesis of ultradispersed LiV3O8 nanoparticles (~10 nm) and strong coupling on graphene nanosheets with an unprecedented degree of control on the precise separation and manipulation of nanoparticles nucleation, growth, anchoring, and crystallization on graphene oxide (GO) in a water-in-oil emulsion system over free growth in solution
This well LVO NPs-GNs composites is able to deliver high reversible capacities with superlative cyclic capacity retention at different current rates for prolonged cycling, and exhibit excellent high-rate performance at a current density as high as 6 A g−1 as an cathode material for LIBs. This facile method may offer an attractive alternative approach for preparation of the graphene-based composites as high-performance electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. In this versatile interfacial reaction design strategy, the unprecedented control of the hybrid materials is achieved by the rational separation and precise manipulation of the synthesis processes (Fig. 1)
Summary
With the advantages of high energy density, long lifespan and environmental benignity, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have become the predominant power source for applications in electric vehicles (EVs), and renewable energy storage in smart grids[1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. Another challenge is how to control the particle size, uniform dispersion, and strong coupling, as well as keeping the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets individually separated[40] It is noteworthy, that the small particle size, uniform dispersion, and strong coupling with the graphene sheets are crucial factors for improving cell performance[41,42,43] because small particle size plus good dispersion can endow the composite electrode a superior high surface area to improve the compact contact of active materials/supports are favorable for such activation processes, but it could bring the required conductivity to individual nanoparticles and shorten the diffusion length for Li ions, which are beneficial for high lithium storage and rate capability, respectively. For comparison LiV3O8 particles were freely grown on graphene sheets in solution via a traditional sol-gel method (denoted as SG-LVO-GNs) Such LVO NPs-GNs composites with the small particle size and uniform distribution of LVO NPs could be controlled with good reproducibility, and anchoring firmly on the GNs is advantageous for inhibiting aggregation and offers a direct short pathway for Li+ diffusion, which are beneficial for high capacity and rate capability. This facile method may offer an attractive alternative approach for preparation of the graphene-based composites as high-performance electrodes for lithium-ion batteries
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