Boric Acid Assisted Reduction of Graphene Oxide: A Promising Material for Sodium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Reduced graphene oxide, an intensively investigated material for Li-ion batteries, has shown mostly unsatisfactory performance in Na-ion batteries, since its d-spacing is believed to be too small for effective insertion/deinsertion of Na+ ions. Herein, a facile method was developed to produce boron-functionalized reduced graphene oxide (BF-rGO), with an enlarged interlayer spacing and defect-rich structure, which effectively accommodates the sodiation/desodiation and provides more active sites. The Na/BF-rGO half cells exhibit unprecedented long cycling stability, with ∼89.4% capacity retained after 5000 cycles (0.002% capacity decay per cycle) at 1000 mA·g-1 current density. High specific capacity (280 mAh·g-1) and great rate capability were also delivered in the Na/BF-rGO half cells. Disciplines Engineering | Physical Sciences and Mathematics Publication DetailsWang, Y., Wang, C., Wang, Y., Liu, H. & Huang, Z. (2016 KEYWORDS:Sodium-ion batteries; Anode materials; Graphene oxide; Expended interlayer; Boron; Boric acid ABSTRACT: Reduced graphene oxide, an intensively investigated material for Li-ion batteries, has shown mostly unsatisfactory performance in Na-ion batteries, since its d-spacing is believed 2 to be too small for effective insertion/de-insertion of Na + ions. Herein, a facile method has been developed to produce boron-functionalized reduced graphene oxide (BF-rGO), with an enlarged interlayer spacing and defect-rich structure, which effectively accommodates the sodiation/desodiation and provides more active sites. The Na/BF-rGO half cells exhibit unprecedented long cycling stability, with about 89.4 % capacity retained after 5000 cycles (0.002 % capacity decay per cycle) at 1000 mA·g −1 current density. High specific capacity (280 mAh·g −1 ) and great rate capability were also delivered in the Na/BF-rGO half cells.

Carbon Anode Materials for Advanced Sodium‐Ion Batteries

“…Boron has also been regarded as an effective dopant for carbon materials owing to the lower electronegativity and analogous atomic size to carbon. Wang and co‐workers reported that the strong chemical bonds between boron and oxygen could serve as pillars to broaden interlayer distance of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and the introduction of boron could create rich defects, resulting in the increase of sodium storage sites. As expected, the boron functionalized rGO delivered a capacity of 280 mA h g −1 at the current density of 0.02 A g −1 , which is much higher than that of pure rGO, agreeing well with the results of first‐principle calculations provided by Ling and Mizuno …”

Low‐Thermal‐Budget Doping of 2D Materials in Ambient Air Exemplified by Synthesis of Boron‐Doped Reduced Graphene Oxide

“…Wang et al developed a one-pot hydrothermal synthesis (180 °C, 12 h) of B-doped reduced GO (B@rGO) and demonstrated the high performance of this material in Na-ion batteries. [16] Putri et al prepared N-/B-co-doped rGO via 2-h thermal annealing at 800 °C, showing the great promise of this material for application in the hydrogen evolution reaction. [17] Li et al prepared B@rGO using dielectric barrier discharge plasma with H 2 as working gas.…”

A Functionalized Carbon Surface for High‐Performance Sodium‐Ion Storage

“…Other functional groups have also been explored. For example, Wang et al synthesized boron‐functionalized reduced graphene oxide (BF‐rGO) by the hydrothermal treatment of boric acid and graphene oxide . It was found that the boron functional groups grafted to the rGO surface were mostly BC 2 O and BCO 2 .…”