Electrochemical performance of graphene nanosheets and ceramic composites as anodes for lithium batteries

Abstract

A nanocomposite anode material for lithium batteries is designed and fabricated by the insertion of graphite nanosheets (GNS) into the ceramic network of silicon oxycarbide (SiOC) ceramics for the development of structurally and electrochemically stable lithium batteries. The GNS forms a layered phase in the SiOC ceramic network from the self-assembly of graphite oxides (GO) introduced in a polysiloxane precursor through thermal transformations after pyrolysis. The composite anode (GNS/ SiOC) exhibits an initial discharge capacity attaining 1141 mAh g À1 . The discharging capacity decreases in the first eight cycles and stays at 364 mAh g À1 in the following cycles. This reversible discharging capacity is higher than that of a graphite reference (328 mAh g À1 ) and a SiOC monolithic. Correlating the discharge capacities to the material compositions and structures suggest that the interface between SiOC and GNS contributes to the enhanced capacity of the composite anode, in addition to those from GNS and SiOC. Further increasing the electrochemical performance is possible by the increase of the amount of GNS in the composite.

Critical Insight into the Relentless Progression Toward Graphene and Graphene‐Containing Materials for Lithium‐Ion Battery Anodes

“…Indeed, it was subsequently found that, in absence of binder, the 1 st cycle irreversible specifi c capacity was always higher than 40% [37][38][39][40][41] and, in some cases, the binder-free electrodes were very fragile and diffi cult to handle. [ 41 ] Despite few research efforts starting the good practice of reporting the electrodes' active material loadings, [ 35,42 ] still the focus was only on gravimetric capacity, and no indication on volumetric values was given. Thus, making even harder a fair estimation of RGO potential as LIB anode.…”

“…Other two kinds of graphene hybrid were also reported in the same year, namely, RGO-cuprous oxide [ 110 ] and RGO-silicon oxycarbide. [ 42 ] Unluckily, none of these demonstrated substantially enhanced electrochemical properties compared to graphite (see Table 2 ). In spite of the not exciting performance, in their research effort, F. Hou et al [ 42 ] highlighted the impact of the composite preparation method on its lithium-storage properties.…”

“…[ 42 ] Unluckily, none of these demonstrated substantially enhanced electrochemical properties compared to graphite (see Table 2 ). In spite of the not exciting performance, in their research effort, F. Hou et al [ 42 ] highlighted the impact of the composite preparation method on its lithium-storage properties. Indeed, two composites featuring the same amount of RGO (25 wt%) were studied.…”

Preparation and capacitance properties of graphene/NiAl layered double-hydroxide nanocomposite

“…Numerous materials have been investigated and used as electrodes of supercapacitors; they can mainly be divided into three types: (i) carbonaceous materials, (ii) conducting polymers, and (iii) transition metal oxides [5][6][7][8]. Among the possible materials, transition metal oxides were studied extensively, such as MnO 2 , Co 3 O 4 , ZnO, and so on [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Layered double hydroxide (LDH) as a kind of heterostructure nanomaterials have shown superior properties in applications such as catalysis, sorption, medicine, and so on [19][20][21].…”

Synthesis of graphene–NiFe2O4 nanocomposites and their electrochemical capacitive behavior

“…This kind of carbon material possesses a long cycle life and good mechanical properties. Metal oxides (MnO 2 , Co 3 O 4 , RuO 2 ) and conducting polymers (polyaniline, polypyrrole and polythiophene) [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] are typical pseudocapacitive materials that can achieve relatively high capacitance but are limited by poor cyclability due to structural degradation of the electrode through the redox process. 19,20 So the capacitance can be enhanced by incorporating carbon materials with pseudocapacitive materials.…”