Revealing the unique process of alloying reaction in Ni-Co-Sb/C nanosphere anode for high-performance lithium storage

Lei Wang; Limin Zhu; Weifan Zhang; Guochun Ding; Guang Yang; Lingling Xie; Xiaoyu Cao

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2020.10.142

Revealing the unique process of alloying reaction in Ni-Co-Sb/C nanosphere anode for high-performance lithium storage

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2021 Mar 15:586:730-740. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.10.142. Epub 2020 Nov 5.

Authors

Lei Wang¹, Limin Zhu¹, Weifan Zhang¹, Guochun Ding¹, Guang Yang¹, Lingling Xie², Xiaoyu Cao³

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China; Key Laboratory of High Specific Energy Materials for Electrochemical Power Sources of Zhengzhou City, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China.
² School of Environmental Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China; Key Laboratory of High Specific Energy Materials for Electrochemical Power Sources of Zhengzhou City, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China. Electronic address: linglingxie@haut.edu.cn.
³ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China; Key Laboratory of High Specific Energy Materials for Electrochemical Power Sources of Zhengzhou City, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China. Electronic address: caoxy@haut.edu.cn.

PMID: 33198986
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.10.142

Abstract

The strategy of "template sacrifice method" was proposed to synthesize well-defined NiSb/CoSb nanoparticles embedded in carbon nanosphere (Ni-Co-Sb/C, ~560 nm) by calcination treatment of the Ni-Co-MOF (metal-organic framework) precursor. Due to the structural controllability of MOF precursor and Ni/Co bimetallic synergy, the fabricated Ni-Co-Sb/C demonstrates a high surface area (88 m² g^-1) and superior ion conductivity, thus an excellent electrochemical performance as has been achieved as lithium ion battery (LIB) anode. A reversible discharge specific capacity as high as 495.1 mAh g^-1 has been stably delivered after 1000 cycles at a high current density of 1.0 A g^-1. In addition, the charge transfer impedance of Ni-Co-Sb/C electrode is as low as 67.6 Ω in the 30th cycle at 0.1 A g^-1 and the pseudocapacitive contribution is as high as 73.8% at 0.5 mV s^-1. The alloying mechanism of Ni-Co-Sb/C has been verified by in-situ X-ray diffraction (XRD), which enables a high lithium storage capacity. Moreover, the full-cell assembled with LiCoO₂ as cathode exhibits a steady discharge specific capacity of 354.0 mAh g^-1 at 0.1 A g^-1 even after 100 cycles. Our work provides an effective method for the application and high-capacity Sb-based material in energy storage fields, and this material is expected as a promising candidate for a novel anode material in LIBs.

Keywords: Alloy anode material; Kinetics properties; Lithium storage mechanism; Ni-Co-Sb/C nanosphere.