Issue 29, 2016

A poly-(styrene-acrylonitrile) copolymer-derived hierarchical architecture in electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

A general methodology is proposed to produce active cathode/anode materials for lithium-ion batteries with a hierarchical structure. In particular, the active electrode materials in nano-dimension (<10 nm) are carbon-coated and encapsulated inside submicron-scale graphite-like carbon spheres derived from a poly-(styrene-acrylonitrile) copolymer prepared by mini-emulsion polymerization. The graphite-like carbon matrix inside the spheres provides high conductivity and mechanical rigidity and keeps well separated the nanoparticles (NPs) of the active materials to avoid their aggregation. The carbon spheres possess mesopores for improving the diffusion of Li ions in and out of the active materials, and for accommodating possible volume changes. The inter-space among the carbon spheres provides continuous channels which facilitate electrolyte infiltration. The proposed methodology has been applied to prepare anatase TiO2/carbon anode materials. The lithium-ion battery prepared using this anode material exhibits a reversible capacity of 173 mA h gāˆ’1 at 500 mA gāˆ’1, with a negligible capacity fading even after 600 cycles. Moreover, the applied preparation route can be easily scaled up for industrial productions.

Graphical abstract: A poly-(styrene-acrylonitrile) copolymer-derived hierarchical architecture in electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 May 2016
Accepted
27 Jun 2016
First published
28 Jun 2016

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016,4, 11481-11490

A poly-(styrene-acrylonitrile) copolymer-derived hierarchical architecture in electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries

L. Jin, G. Zeng, H. Wu, M. Niederberger and M. Morbidelli, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4, 11481 DOI: 10.1039/C6TA04102G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements