Lithium-ion batteries based on vertically-aligned carbon nanotube electrodes and ionic liquid electrolytes

Abstract

In conjunction with environmentally benign ionic liquid electrolytes, vertically-aligned carbon nanotubes (VA-CNTs) sheathed with and without a coaxial layer of vanadium oxide (V₂O₅) were used as both cathode and anode, respectively, to develop high-performance and high-safety lithium-ion batteries. The VA-CNT anode and V₂O₅–VA-CNT cathode showed a high capacity (600 mAh g⁻¹ and 368 mAh g⁻¹, respectively) with a high rate capability. This led to potential to achieve a high energy density (297 Wh kg⁻¹) and power density (12 kW kg⁻¹) for the prototype batteries to significantly outperform the current state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries.