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Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    High-performance Li-O2 batteries with trilayered Pd/MnOx/Pd nanomembranes
    (Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2015) Lu, Xueyi; Deng, Junwen; Si, Wenping; Sun, Xiaolei; Liu, Xianghong; Liu, Bo; Liu, Lifeng; Oswald, Steffen; Baunack, Stefan; Grafe, Hans Joachim; Yan, Chenglin; Schmidt, Oliver G.
    Trilayered Pd/MnOx/Pd nanomembranes are fabricated as the cathode catalysts for Li‐O2 batteries. The combination of Pd and MnOx facilitates the transport of electrons, lithium ions, and oxygen‐containing intermediates, thus effectively decomposing the discharge product Li2O2 and significantly lowering the charge overpotential and enhancing the power efficiency. This is promising for future environmentally friendly applications.
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    Biomass Alginate Derived Oxygen-Enriched Carbonaceous Materials with Partially Graphitic Nanolayers for High Performance Anodes in Lithium-Ion Batteries
    (Basel : MDPI, 2022) Sun, Xiaolei; Chen, Yao; Li, Yang; Luo, Feng
    Lithium-ion batteries with high reversible capacity, high-rate capability, and extended cycle life are vital for future consumer electronics and renewable energy storage. There is a great deal of interest in developing novel types of carbonaceous materials to boost lithium storage properties due to the inadequate properties of conventional graphite anodes. In this study, we describe a facile and low-cost approach for the synthesis of oxygen-doped hierarchically porous carbons with partially graphitic nanolayers (Alg-C) from pyrolyzed Na-alginate biopolymers without resorting to any kind of activation step. The obtained Alg-C samples were analyzed using various techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, and transmission electron microscope, to determine their structure and morphology. When serving as lithium storage anodes, the as-prepared Alg-C electrodes have outstanding electrochemical features, such as a high-rate capability (120 mAh g−1 at 3000 mA g−1) and extended cycling lifetimes over 5000 cycles. The post-cycle morphologies ultimately provide evidence of the distinct structural characteristics of the Alg-C electrodes. These preliminary findings suggest that alginate-derived carbonaceous materials may have intensive potential for next-generation energy storage and other related applications.
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    High-defect hydrophilic carbon cuboids anchored with Co/CoO nanoparticles as highly efficient and ultra-stable lithium-ion battery anodes
    (Cambridge : Royal Society of Chemistry, 2016) Sun, Xiaolei; Hao, Guang-Ping; Lu, Xueyi; Xi, Lixia; Liu, Bo; Si, Wenping; Ma, Chuansheng; Liu, Qiming; Zhang, Qiang; Kaskel, Stefan; Schmidt, Oliver G.
    We propose an effective strategy to engineer a unique kind of porous carbon cuboid with tightly anchored cobalt/cobalt oxide nanoparticles (PCC–CoOx) that exhibit outstanding electrochemical performance for many key aspects of lithium-ion battery electrodes. The host carbon cuboid features an ultra-polar surface reflected by its high hydrophilicity and rich surface defects due to high heteroatom doping (N-/O-doping both higher than 10 atom%) as well as hierarchical pore systems. We loaded the porous carbon cuboid with cobalt/cobalt oxide nanoparticles through an impregnation process followed by calcination treatment. The resulting PCC–CoOx anode exhibits superior rate capability (195 mA h g−1 at 20 A g−1) and excellent cycling stability (580 mA h g−1 after 2000 cycles at 1 A g−1 with only 0.0067% capacity loss per cycle). Impressively, even after an ultra-long cycle life exceeding 10 000 cycles at 5 A g−1, the battery can recover to 1050 mA h g−1 at 0.1 A g−1, perhaps the best performance demonstrated so far for lithium storage in cobalt oxide-based electrodes. This study provides a new perspective to engineer long-life, high-power metal oxide-based electrodes for lithium-ion batteries through controlling the surface chemistry of carbon host materials.
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    Nitrogen and boron doped carbon layer coated multiwall carbon nanotubes as high performance anode materials for lithium ion batteries
    ([London] : Nature Publishing Group, 2021) Liu, Bo; Sun, Xiaolei; Liao, Zhongquan; Lu, Xueyi; Zhang, Lin; Hao, Guang-Ping
    Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are at present widely used as energy storage and conversion device in our daily life. However, due to the limited power density, the application of LIBs is still restricted in some areas such as commercial vehicles or heavy-duty trucks. An effective strategy to solve this problem is to increase energy density through the development of battery materials. At the same time, a stable long cycling battery is a great demand of environmental protection and industry. Herein we present our new materials, nitrogen and boron doped carbon layer coated multiwall carbon nanotubes (NBC@MWCNTs), which can be used as anodes for LIBs. The electrochemical results demonstrate that the designed NBC@MWCNTs electrode possesses high stable capacity over an ultra-long cycling lifespan (5000 cycles) and superior rate capability even at very high current density (67.5 A g−1). Such impressive lithium storage properties could be ascribed to the synergistic coupling effect of the distinctive structural features, the reduced diffusion length of lithium ions, more active sites generated by doped atoms for lithium storage, as well as the enhancement of the electrode structural integrity. Taken together, these results indicate that the N, B-doped carbon@MWCNTs materials may have great potential for applications in next-generation high performance rechargeable batteries.
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    Single “Swiss-roll” microelectrode elucidates the critical role of iron substitution in conversion-type oxides
    (Washington, DC [u.a.] : Assoc., 2022) Liu, Lixiang; Huang, Shaozhuan; Shi, Wujun; Sun, Xiaolei; Pang, Jinbo; Lu, Qiongqiong; Yang, Ye; Xi, Lixia; Deng, Liang; Oswald, Steffen; Yin, Yin; Liu, Lifeng; Ma, Libo; Schmidt, Oliver G.; Shi, Yumeng; Zhang, Lin
    Advancing the lithium-ion battery technology requires the understanding of electrochemical processes in electrode materials with high resolution, accuracy, and sensitivity. However, most techniques today are limited by their inability to separate the complex signals from slurry-coated composite electrodes. Here, we use a three-dimensional “Swiss-roll” microtubular electrode that is incorporated into a micrometer-sized lithium battery. This on-chip platform combines various in situ characterization techniques and precisely probes the intrinsic electrochemical properties of each active material due to the removal of unnecessary binders and additives. As an example, it helps elucidate the critical role of Fe substitution in a conversion-type NiO electrode by monitoring the evolution of Fe2O3 and solid electrolyte interphase layer. The markedly enhanced electrode performances are therefore explained. Our approach exposes a hitherto unexplored route to tracking the phase, morphology, and electrochemical evolution of electrodes in real time, allowing us to reveal information that is not accessible with bulk-level characterization techniques.