Ultrafast-charging and long cycle-life anode materials of TiO2-bronze/nitrogen-doped graphene nanocomposites for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

Thanapat Autthawong; Yothin Chimupala; Mitsutaka Haruta; Hiroki Kurata; Tsutomu Kiyomura; Ai-Shui Yu; Torranin Chairuangsri; Thapanee Sarakonsri

doi:10.1039/d0ra07733j

Ultrafast-charging and long cycle-life anode materials of TiO₂-bronze/nitrogen-doped graphene nanocomposites for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

RSC Adv. 2020 Dec 8;10(71):43811-43824. doi: 10.1039/d0ra07733j. eCollection 2020 Nov 27.

Authors

Thanapat Autthawong¹, Yothin Chimupala^{2

3}, Mitsutaka Haruta⁴, Hiroki Kurata⁴, Tsutomu Kiyomura⁴, Ai-Shui Yu⁵, Torranin Chairuangsri², Thapanee Sarakonsri^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University Muang Chiang Mai 50200 Thailand tsarakonsri@gmail.com.
² Department of Industrial Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University Muang Chiang Mai 50200 Thailand.
³ Material Science Research Center, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University Muang Chiang Mai 50200 Thailand.
⁴ Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University Uji Kyoto 611-0011 Japan.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Fudan University Yangpu Shanghai 200438 China.

Abstract

Emerging technologies demand a new generation of lithium-ion batteries that are high in power density, fast-charging, safe to use, and have long cycle lives. This work reports charging rates and specific capacities of TiO₂(B)/N-doped graphene (TNG) composites. The TNG composites were prepared by the hydrothermal method in various reaction times (3, 6, 9, 12, and 24 h), while the N-doped graphene was synthesized using the modified Hummer's method followed by a heat-treatment process. The different morphologies of TiO₂ dispersed on the N-doped graphene sheet were confirmed as anatase-nanoparticles (3, 6 h), TiO₂(B)-nanotubes (9 h), and TiO₂(B)-nanorods (12, 24 h) by XRD, TEM, and EELS. In electrochemical studies, the best battery performance was obtained with the nanorods TiO₂(B)/N-doped graphene (TNG-24h) electrode, with a relatively high specific capacity of 500 mA h g^-1 at 1C (539.5 mA g^-1). In long-term cycling, excellent stability was observed. The capacity retention of 150 mA h g^-1 was observed after 7000 cycles, at an ultrahigh current of 50C (27.0 A g^-1). The synthesized composites have the potential for fast-charging and have high stability, showing potential as an anode material in advanced power batteries for next-generation applications.