High Electrochemical Performance of Monodisperse NiCo₂O₄Mesoporous Microspheres as an Anode Material for Li-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Binary metal oxides have been regarded as ideal and potential anode materials, which can ameliorate and offset the electrochemical performance of the single metal oxides, such as reversible capacity, structural stability and electronic conductivity. In this work, monodisperse NiCo(2)O(4) mesoporous microspheres are fabricated by a facile solvothermal method followed by pyrolysis of the Ni(0.33)Co(0.67)CO(3) precursor. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of NiCo(2)O(4) mesoporous microspheres is determined to be about 40.58 m(2) g(-1) with dominant pore diameter of 14.5 nm and narrow size distribution of 10-20 nm. Our as-prepared NiCo(2)O(4) products were evaluated as the anode material for the lithium-ion-battery (LIB) application. It is demonstrated that the special structural features of the NiCo(2)O(4) microspheres including uniformity of the surface texture, the integrity and porosity exert significant effect on the electrochemical performances. The discharge capacity of NiCo(2)O(4) microspheres could reach 1198 mA h g(-1) after 30 discharge-charge cycles at a current density of 200 mA g(-1). More importantly, when the current density increased to 800 mA·g(-1), it can render reversible capacity of 705 mA h g(-1) even after 500 cycles, indicating its potential applications for next-generation high power lithium ion batteries (LIBs). The superior battery performance is mainly attributed to the unique micro/nanostructure composed of interconnected NiCo(2)O(4) nanocrystals, which provides good electrolyte diffusion and large electrode-electrolyte contact area, and meanwhile reduces volume change during charge/discharge process. The strategy is simple but very effective, and because of its versatility, it could be extended to other high-capacity metal oxide anode materials for LIBs.

Hollow MnCo2O4 Submicrospheres with Multilevel Interiors: From Mesoporous Spheres to Yolk-in-Double-Shell Structures

“…In contrast to the carbonate precursor reported in previous work, [12][13][14][15][16]18 the MnCo-glycolate could yield a large weight loss due to the presence of a large amount of organic species by heating under atmosphere, the progress of which well controlled the different types of interiors. As commonly observed, the TEM and FESEM images in Fig.…”

Self‐Sacrifice Template Fabrication of Hierarchical Mesoporous Bi‐Component‐Active ZnO/ZnFe2O4 Sub‐Microcubes as Superior Anode Towards High‐Performance Lithium‐Ion Battery

“…This phenomenon is generally attributed to the reversible formation of a polymeric gel-like fi lm originating from kinetic activation in the electrode. [ 15,[46][47][48] More impressively, the discharge capacity of the ZZFO remains relatively stable after continuously cycling for ≈100 times, and is even kept as high as ≈837 mAh g −1 over 200 cycles. As seen from the FESEM and TEM images of the ZZFO anode after 200 cycles at the current rate of 1000 mA g −1 , some SMCs still can be evident (see Figure S11, Supporting Information), suggesting its desirable structural stability over cycling, which should be well responsible for the excellent cycling performance.…”

Recent Progress in Electrocatalyst for Li‐O2 Batteries

“…Compared with these materials, the ternary spinel oxide NiCo 2 O 4 has aroused much interest for use as an electrocatalyst for Li-O 2 batteries thanks to its good electronic conductivity and catalytic activity. [115,116] So far, various kinds of NiCo 2 O 4 -based electrocatalyst are reported, [117][118][119][120][121][122] including hierarchical NiCo 2 O 4 nanorods, [117] hierarchical macroporous/ mesoporous NiCo 2 O 4 nanosheets, [118] have been reported. As a typical example among these researches, Gong et al has reported a high-loading NiCo 2 O 4 nanoparticles (NCONP) anchored on three-dimensional N-doped graphene as an efficient bifunctional catalyst for Li-O 2 battery.…”