Hydrothermal Fabrication of MnCO₃@rGO Composite as an Anode Material for High-Performance Lithium Ion Batteries

Abstract

The layer structure of graphene or reduced graphene oxide (rGO) opens an avenue for the development of advanced functional materials. In this paper, a MnCO3@rGO composite (MGC) was fabricated by anchoring MnCO3 nanoparticles (NPs) on rGO sheets in the hydrothermal reduction process of graphene oxide by using NaBH4. MnCO3 NPs with an average diameter of 8-20 nm were anchored onto the surface of rGO. The layer structure of rGO was maintained in MGC. The MGC was employed as an anode active material for lithium ion batteries. Excellent performances were obtained with a high specific capacity up to 857 mA·h·g(-1) after 100 cycles. The various charging-discharging current rates of 0.2-5.0 C exhibited no clear negative effect on the recycling stability of the MGC. The enhanced structure stability and ion and electron conductivity of the MGC are responsible for the superior electrochemical properties.

Reversible reduction of Li2CO3

“…Recently a series of transition metal carbonates [12][13][14][15][16] were reported to show reversible capacities up to 1500 mAh g -1 , much higher than the capacity of electrochemical conversion from metal carbonates to Li 2 CO 3 and metal (MCO 3 + 2Li + + 2e -↔ Li 2 CO 3 + M; less than 500 mAh g -1 ). Similar results have been observed in transition metal hydroxides [17][18][19] .…”

Cobalt carbonate dumbbells for high-capacity lithium storage: A slight doping of ascorbic acid and an enhancement in electrochemical performances

“…It has been proved that the practical capacities of some MCO 3 products are as high as or even higher than the corresponding transition metal oxides (MO) [7,9,10,18,20]. For example, the 10th reversible capacity of microspindle-like CoCO 3 could reach 1065 mAh g À1 , higher than that of microspindle-shaped CoO (~720 mAh g À1 ) operated at a same rate of 50 mA g À1 [18].…”

Hierarchical architectured MnCO3 microdumbbells: facile synthesis and enhanced performance for lithium ion batteries

“…1 To satisfy the growing appetite for these applications, further improvements in terms of energy and power densities, safety, cost, and lifetime are taken into consideration. 3 In this respect, manifold anode materials, such as Si, transition-metal oxides, and their analogues, have been explored as an essential constituent in LIBs. 3 In this respect, manifold anode materials, such as Si, transition-metal oxides, and their analogues, have been explored as an essential constituent in LIBs.…”

“…[4][5][6][7] As an important conversion-type material, manganese carbonate (MnCO 3 ) is considered to be a potential anode material due to its high natural abundance, low toxicity, low cost, as well as a high theoretical Li-storage capacity (467 mA h g −1 ), which exceeds that of the traditional graphite anode material (theoretical capacity is 372 mA h g −1 ). 3,12 To address these problems, many efforts have been made, such as designing unique morphologies and the introduction of nanosized materials, because the electrochemical performance of the electrode materials are to some degree associated with size dimensions and structure as well as crystalline orientation, namely the morphology. [8][9][10][11] In general, the shape guidingmechanism results in MnCO 3 being an unavoidable hot topic.…”