Graphene oxide-templated growth of MOFs with enhanced lithium-storage properties

Abstract

Herein, Mn-MOF/RGO_n composites have been successfully synthesized using terephthalic acid non-covalent functionalized graphene oxide (GO) sheets acting as efficient nucleation sites and structure-directing templates to direct the growth of MOFs. The electrochemical performance of the Mn-MOF/RGO_n composite electrode was much better than that of the pristine Mn-MOF when used as a candidate anode material for lithium-ion batteries due to the synergetic advantages of RGO and Mn-MOF, improved electrical conductivity, and mechanical flexibility of Mn-MOF. Especially, the Mn-MOF/RGO₁₀ composite electrode maintains a reversible discharge capacity of 715 mA h g⁻¹ with a capacity retention of 98% after 100 cycles at 100 mA g⁻¹ and also exhibits a high discharge capacity of 485 mA h g⁻¹ at 300 mA g⁻¹, 432 mA h g⁻¹ at 500 mA g⁻¹ while still maintaining 348 mA h g⁻¹ at 1000 mA g⁻¹ after 500 cycles, which is greatly higher as compared to that of the pure Mn-MOF material as expected.