title: Coral-Inspired Nanoengineering Design for Long-Cycle and Flexible Lithium-Ion Battery Anode.
abstract: Conversion reaction electrode materials (CREMs) have gained significant interest in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their high theoretical gravimetric capacity. However, traditional CREMs-based electrodes, with large strain arising from Li(+) intercalation/deintercalation causes pulverization or electrical breakdown and cracking of the active materials which leads to structural collapse, limiting performance. Therefore, in order to construct electrodes with a strong tolerance to the strain incurred during the conversion reaction process, we design a coral-like three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical heterostructure by using cross-linked nanoflakes interspersed with nanoparticles (NPs) standing vertically on graphene foam (GF). The coral-like 3D hierarchical heterostructures can efficiently disperse the strain from both internal and external forces as well as increase the specific surface area for enhanced electrochemical reactions. These features lead to long-cycle stability and excellent flexibility in LIBs. Fe3O4 NPs and CoO NFs are utilized as a model system to demonstrate our strategy. The as-prepared coral-like hierarchical electrode is studied as an anode in LIBs for the first time and is shown to deliver a high reversible specific gravimetric capacity of ∼1200 mA h g(-1) at a rate of 0.5 A g(-1) for 400 cycles. In addition, our batteries can even power a green light-emitting diode when bent to high degrees confirming the excellent flexibility of the material.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Science, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, China.
authors.forename: Yangyong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Science, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Science, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, China.
authors.forename: Yinghui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Science, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, China.
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: IFW Dresden , P. O. Box 270116, Dresden 01069, Germany.
authors.forename: Rafael G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Mendes
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Science, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, China.
authors.forename: Linfeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Science, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: IFW Dresden , P. O. Box 270116, Dresden 01069, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gemming
authors.affiliation: IFW Dresden , P. O. Box 270116, Dresden 01069, Germany.|College of Physics, Optoelectronics and Energy & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University , Suzhou 215006, China.
authors.forename: Mark H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Rümmeli
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Science, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, China.
authors.forename: Xinping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ai
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Molecular Science, Wuhan University , Wuhan 430072, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fu
keywords: coral-like; flexible; lithium-ion battery anode; long cycle; strain dispersion