Facile Synthesis of SiO2@C Nanoparticles Anchored on MWNT as High-Performance Anode Materials for Li-ion Batteries

Yan Zhao; Zhengjun Liu; Yongguang Zhang; Almagul Mentbayeva; Xin Wang; M Yu Maximov; Baoxi Liu; Zhumabay Bakenov; Fuxing Yin

doi:10.1186/s11671-017-2226-2

Facile Synthesis of SiO₂@C Nanoparticles Anchored on MWNT as High-Performance Anode Materials for Li-ion Batteries

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2017 Dec;12(1):459. doi: 10.1186/s11671-017-2226-2. Epub 2017 Jul 18.

Authors

Yan Zhao¹, Zhengjun Liu¹, Yongguang Zhang², Almagul Mentbayeva³, Xin Wang⁴, M Yu Maximov⁵, Baoxi Liu¹, Zhumabay Bakenov³, Fuxing Yin¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Research Institute for Energy Equipment Materials, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, 300130, China.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, Research Institute for Energy Equipment Materials, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, 300130, China. yongguangzhang@hebut.edu.cn.
³ Institute of Batteries LLC, National Laboratory Astana, School of Engineering, Nazarbayev University, 53 Kabanbay Batyr Avenue, Astana, 010000, Kazakhstan.
⁴ Synergy Innovation Institute of GDUT, Heyuan, Guangdong Province, China.
⁵ Peter the Great Saint-Petersburg Polytechnic University, Saint Petersburg, 195221, Russia.

Abstract

Carbon-coated silica nanoparticles anchored on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (SiO₂@C/MWNT composite) were synthesized via a simple and facile sol-gel method followed by heat treatment. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) studies confirmed densely anchoring the carbon-coated SiO₂ nanoparticles onto a flexible MWNT conductive network, which facilitated fast electron and lithium-ion transport and improved structural stability of the composite. As prepared, ternary composite anode showed superior cyclability and rate capability compared to a carbon-coated silica counterpart without MWNT (SiO₂@C). The SiO₂@C/MWNT composite exhibited a high reversible discharge capacity of 744 mAh g^-1 at the second discharge cycle conducted at a current density of 100 mA g^-1 as well as an excellent rate capability, delivering a capacity of 475 mAh g^-1 even at 1000 mA g^-1. This enhanced electrochemical performance of SiO₂@C/MWNT ternary composite anode was associated with its unique core-shell and networking structure and a strong mutual synergistic effect among the individual components.

Keywords: Anode; Lithium-ion battery; SiO2@C/MWNT composite; Sol-gel synthesis.