Nitrogen-doped porous carbon sponge-confined ZnO quantum dots for metal collector-free lithium ion battery

Publication date: Available online 3 July 2019Source: Journal of Electroanalytical ChemistryAuthor(s): Xu Ma, Zeheng Li, Danke Chen, Zhuoyi Li, Lijing Yan, Siyuan Li, Chengdu Liang, Min Ling, Xinsheng PengAbstractZnO is one of the promising anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) due to its high theoretical capacity (978 mAh g−1) and abundant geology reserves. However, the volume variation (about 221%) during de/lithiation and poor conductivity restrict its development. To relieve the volume variation, we build a flexible sponge film, which is composed of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and N-doped porous carbon (NPC) anchored by ~3 nm ZnO quantum dots (ZnO-QDs), namely ZnO@NPCF. The ZnO-QDs is derived from zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) in situ. To improve the electronic conductivity, a 3D conductive network is constructed through the pyrolysis treatment. In addition, the robust SWCNT network enables the formation of self-supporting electrodes without binder and metal collector for lithium ion battery. Taking advantages of this unique structure, the ZnO@NPCF-20 exhibits a stable cycling performance over 1000 cycles at a current density of 1A g−1 with a small decay of 0.0217% per cycle. Moreover, the ZnO@NPCF-20 electrode with a high mass loading of 2.2 mg cm−2 can maintain a stable areal capacity of about 1 mAh cm−2 after 350 cycles at a current density of 400 mA g−1, which demonstrates the promising potential for LIBs electrod...
Source: Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry - Category: Chemistry Source Type: research