Superior flexibility of a wrinkled carbon shell under electrochemical cycling
Type
ArticleAuthors
Li, QianqianWang, Peng

Feng, Qiong
Mao, Minmin
Liu, Jiabin
Wang, Hongtao
Mao, Scott
Zhang, Xixiang

KAUST Department
Advanced Nanofabrication, Imaging and Characterization Core LabMaterial Science and Engineering Program
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
Date
2014Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/563185
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Nanocarbon composites have been extensively employed in engineering alloy-type anodes in order to improve the poor cyclability caused by the enormous volume changes during lithium (Li+) insertion/extraction. The chemical vapor deposited wrinkled carbon shell (WCS) shows high electrical conductivity, excellent thermal stability and remarkable mechanical robustness, which help in retaining the structural integrity around the tin (Sn) anode core despite ∼250% variation in volume during repetitive lithiation and delithiation. In situ transmission electron microscopy reveals no embrittlement in the lithiated WCS, which fully recovers its original shape after severe mechanical deformation with no obvious structural change. Further analysis indicates that the capacity to accommodate large strains is closely related to the construction of the carbon shell, that is, the stacking of wrinkled few-layer graphenes. Both the pre-existing wrinkles and the few-layer thickness render the carbon shell superior flexibility and good elasticity under bending or expansion of the interior volume. Moreover, the WCS possesses fast lithium ion diffusion channels, which have lower activation barriers (∼0.1 eV) than that on a smooth graphene (∼0.3 eV). The results provide an insight into the improvement in cycle performance that can be achieved through carbon coating of anodes of lithium ion batteries. © 2014 The Royal Society of Chemistry.Citation
Li, Q., Wang, P., Feng, Q., Mao, M., Liu, J., Wang, H., … Zhang, X.-X. (2014). Superior flexibility of a wrinkled carbon shell under electrochemical cycling. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2(12), 4192. doi:10.1039/c3ta15142eSponsors
H. Wang acknowledges the financial support from the National Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 11322219), National Program for Special Support of Top-Notch Young Professionals and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. Q. Li acknowledges the award for excellent doctoral student from the Ministry of Education (Grant no. 188310-720907/014).Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)Journal
Journal of Materials Chemistry Aae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1039/c3ta15142e