Synthesis of Metal Oxides/Graphene Nanocomposites for Applications in Lithium-Ion Battery

Over the past few years, lithium-ion battery has become a research spot due to its high voltage, high energy density and long cycle life. Traditional lithium-ion batteries employed graphite as anode material. However, graphite suffers from several shortcomings, such as low specific capacity, sluggish discharge current density, and relatively low cycle life. The discovery of graphene makes it possible to improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries significantly. Graphene with excellent electrochemical performance has attracted more and more attention. Graphene is a single layer of honeycomb sp2-hybridized carbon atoms with large surface area, high electrical conductivity and high thermal conductivity.

In this report, we employed graphene and graphene-based composite material as anode materials for lithium-ion battery to improve their performance. Stannic oxide (SnO2), cobalt oxide (Co3O4), and vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) were synthesized respectively on graphene surfaces. The incorporation of metal oxides can further improve electron mobility of graphene and lithium-ion battery charge/ discharge stability. The performance of lithium-ion batteries was tested by charge-discharge experiments, and their charge-discharge current density, charge-discharge voltages, charging rate, and cycle stability were measured and discussed.