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In Situ Synthesis of ZnO/Porous Carbon Microspheres and Their High Performance for Lithium‐Ion Batteries
Author(s) -
Gao Yang,
Li Junfeng,
Lai Xuefei,
Hou Yi,
Zhang Wentao,
Yue Bo,
Huang Xiaoli,
Li Yanjun
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201800719
Subject(s) - anode , materials science , carbonization , lithium (medication) , porosity , chemical engineering , carbon fibers , composite number , nanotechnology , electrode , composite material , scanning electron microscope , chemistry , medicine , engineering , endocrinology
The applications of ZnO anode material in lithium‐ion batteries are limited due to its large volume changes and low electric conductivity in discharge–charge cycles. In the study, the molecular‐level design is employed to develop a novel ZnO/porous carbon composite structure. With zinc citrate as the precursor, ZnO/porous carbon microspheres self‐assembled by nanosheets are successfully synthesized according to the carbonization method. ZnO particles with the size of 10–30 nm are uniformly dispersed inside porous carbon, which acts as a buffer layer. As the anode material, ZnO/porous carbon microspheres exhibit excellent cycle capacity (557 mAh g −1 at 100 mA g −1 ) and rate performance (304 mAh g −1 at 1 A g −1 ). The as‐prepared ZnO/porous carbon microspheres not only guarantee the structural integrity of electrode, but also directly solve the problem of capacity fading. The in situ composite structure may endow ZnO/porous carbon microspheres with wide application potentials in lithium‐ion batteries. The study may also pave a new way to design high‐performance anode materials for lithium‐ion batteries at the molecular scale.