Carbon Coated MoO2 Deposited through an Economical Polymer-Assited Solution Method on Nickel Foam As Anodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Increasing energy demands requires improvements in energy storage devices which in turn necessitates the investigation of new materials implemented in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Molybdate based compounds such as MoO₂ and MoS₂ have been determined as a promising anode material for LIBs due to its high theoretical capacity. Taking MoO₂ as an example, it can accept four Li ions during the charge and discharge processes, corresponding to a high theoretical capacity of 838 mAh/g. Most of molybdate based compounds have been prepared by non-economic and lab methods such as the hydrothermal method. A polymer deposition method which has been developed by our lab has advantages over previous methods due to its low cost and scalability. Carbon coated oxides on an electrode support can be created directly through this method without any additional binders and conductive materials. In this report, a carbon coating of molybdate oxide was successfully coated on the nickel foam, and the electrode exhibited superior capacity, high rate capability and cycle performance in LIBs. The carbon left from the decomposition of polymers is an effective binder between metal oxides and the nickel foam. The good performances of these electrodes could be attributed to intimate contact between the active material and the nickel foam, the porosity of the current collector, and the network structure of the active materials.