A Reduced Graphene Oxide/Disodium Terephthalate Hybrid as a High-Performance Anode for Sodium-Ion Batteries

Tengfei Cao; Wei Lv; Si-Wei Zhang; Jun Zhang; Qiaowei Lin; Xiangrong Chen; Yanbing He; Fei-Yu Kang; Quan-Hong Yang

doi:10.1002/chem.201703418

A Reduced Graphene Oxide/Disodium Terephthalate Hybrid as a High-Performance Anode for Sodium-Ion Batteries

Chemistry. 2017 Nov 21;23(65):16586-16592. doi: 10.1002/chem.201703418. Epub 2017 Nov 3.

Authors

Tengfei Cao^{1

2}, Wei Lv², Si-Wei Zhang¹, Jun Zhang¹, Qiaowei Lin², Xiangrong Chen², Yanbing He², Fei-Yu Kang^{1

2}, Quan-Hong Yang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI), Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, 518055, P. R. China.
² Engineering Laboratory for Functionalized Carbon Materials and Baotou Graphene Innovation Center (Shenzhen), Graduate School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, 518055, P. R. China.
³ School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P. R. China.

PMID: 28921698
DOI: 10.1002/chem.201703418

Abstract

As a promising candidate for large-scale energy storage systems, sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are experiencing a rapid development. Organic conjugated carboxylic acid anodes not only have tailorable electrochemical properties but also are easily accessible. However, the low stability and electrical conductivity hamper their practical applications. In this study, disodium terephthalate (Na₂ TP), the most favorable organic conjugated carboxylic acid anode material for SIBs, was proposed to integrate with graphene oxide (GO) by an anti-solvent precipitation process, which ensures the uniform and tight coating of GO on the Na₂ TP surface. GO is electrochemically reduced during the first several cycles of the electrochemical measurement, which buffers the volume change and improves the electrical conductivity of Na₂ TP, resulting in a better cyclic and rate performance. The incorporation of only 5 wt % GO onto Na₂ TP leads to a reversible capability of 235 mA h g^-1 after 100 cycles at a current rate of 0.1 C, which is the best among the state of the art organic anodes for SIBs. The one-step synthesis together with the low costs of the raw materials show a promise for the scalable preparation of anode materials for practical SIBs.

Keywords: disodium terephthalate; graphene; graphene oxide; organic anodes; sodium-ion batteries.