Direct Electrophoretic Deposition of Binder-Free Co3O4/Graphene Sandwich-Like Hybrid Electrode as Remarkable Lithium Ion Battery Anode

Yang Yang; Jingxin Huang; Jing Zeng; Jian Xiong; Jinbao Zhao

doi:10.1021/acsami.7b10683

Direct Electrophoretic Deposition of Binder-Free Co₃O₄/Graphene Sandwich-Like Hybrid Electrode as Remarkable Lithium Ion Battery Anode

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2017 Sep 27;9(38):32801-32811. doi: 10.1021/acsami.7b10683. Epub 2017 Sep 15.

Authors

Yang Yang¹, Jingxin Huang¹, Jing Zeng¹, Jian Xiong¹, Jinbao Zhao¹

Affiliation

¹ State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Xiamen University , Xiamen 361005, China.

PMID: 28880068
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b10683

Abstract

Co₃O₄ is emerging as a promising anode candidate for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) with high theoretical capacity (890 mAh g^-1) but suffers from poor electrochemical cycling stability resulting from the inferior intrinsic electronic conductivity and large volume changes during electrochemical cycling. Here, a new electrophoretic deposition Co₃O₄/graphene (EPD Co₃O₄/G) hybrid electrode is developed to improve the electrochemical performance. Through EPD, Co₃O₄ nanocubes can be homogeneously embedded between graphene sheets to form a sandwich-like structure. Owing to the excellent flexibility of graphene and a large number of voids in this sandwich-like structure, the structural integrity and unobstructed conductive network can be maintained during cycling. Moreover, the electrode kinetics has proved to be a fast surface-controlled lithium storage process. As a result, the Co₃O₄/G hybrid electrode exhibits high specific capacity and excellent electrochemical cycling performance. The Co₃O₄/G hybrid electrode was also further studied by in situ electrochemical XRD to understand the relationship of its structure and performance: (1) The observed Li_xCo₃O₄ indicates an intermediate of possible small volume change in the first discharging. (2) The theoretical capacity achievement of the Co₃O₄ in hybrid electrode was evidenced. (3) The correlation between the electrochemical performance and the structural evolution of the Co₃O₄/G hybrid electrode was discussed detailedly.

Keywords: Co3O4; binder-free anode; electrophoretic deposition; graphene; in situ electrochemical XRD; lithium ion battery.