Preparation and application in the energy field of Ag nanoparticle (NP) doped fullerenol have been investigated. Ag NP doped fullerenol is prepared using the electrostatic self-assembly method followed by a pyrolysis process, and characterized by Fourier transformation intermediate infrared (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), galvanostatic charge/discharge cycling, and cyclic voltammograms (CV). Experimental results indicate that Ag NP doped fullerenol exhibits an initial discharge capacity of 389 mAh·g −1 during galvanostatic charge/discharge cycling, and maintains a discharge capacity of 283 mAh·g −1 at a current density of 50 mA·g −1 after 50 cycles. The doped product is a mixture of fullerenol and Ag NPs, which distributes among the sample and acts as an electrical conductor in the discharge/charge process. The discharge/charge mechanism is a reversible formation of Li n (C 60 O 10 ) and liberation of Li + from this Li metallized compound. It is therefore believed this material can be used as an anode for lithium ion battery application.
■ INTRODUCTIONFullerenes C 60 and their derivatives have attracted much attention from the research community in recent years, because of their potential applications in superconductors, 1 optical devices, 2 microsensors, 3,4 and polymer-based solar cells. 5 Much work has been done on the electrochemical property of the fullerene because it provides information about the energetics and kinetics of electron-transfer processes and chemical reactions associated with them. For example, Luis Echegoyen 6 and Karl M. Kadish 7 reported the reversible electrochemical reduction processes for C 60 , which leads to C 60 (n+1) (n = 1, 2, ..., 5). The existence of anionic C 60 is inferred from the formation of species such as alkali metal doped C 60 , which can be synthesized by the electrochemical intercalation of alkali metals into C 60 thin film. This electrochemical intercalation technique provides another synthetic route to alkali-metal-intercalated fullerites M x C 60 8,9 in addition to traditional chemical methods. 10−12 Fullerene C 60 electrode has been successfully intercalated with lithium. 13−15 These achievements revealed the high possibility of the electrochemical Li + intercalation into the C 60 film in electrolyte solution of lithium-ion batteries. However, little progress in fact, though many efforts have been paid for the application of C 60 in the field of anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, has been made. The main cause of this disappointment was probably the poor electrochemical reversibility of C 60 electrode. 16 Thus, we tried to solve the problem by doping metal Ag into fullerene molecules to improve their conductivity. However, the hydrophobicity prevents these molecules from accomplishing doping with AgNO 3 in water. Therefore, fullerenol is undoubtedly the appropriate species for conductive treatment and further study of possible application in the field of lithium ion battery. However, high temperature tr...
