title: Hierarchical Sandwich-Like Structure of Ultrafine N-Rich Porous Carbon Nanospheres Grown on Graphene Sheets as Superior Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes.
abstract: A sandwich-like, graphene-based porous nitrogen-doped carbon (PNCs@Gr) has been prepared through facile pyrolysis of zeolitic imidazolate framework nanoparticles in situ grown on graphene oxide (GO) (ZIF-8@GO). Such sandwich-like nanostructure can be used as anode material in lithium ion batteries, exhibiting remarkable capacities, outstanding rate capability, and cycling performances that are some of the best results among carbonaceous electrode materials and exceed most metal oxide-based anode materials derived from metal orgainc frameworks (MOFs). Apart from a high initial capacity of 1378 mAh g(-1) at 100 mA g(-1), this PNCs@Gr electrode can be cycled at high specific currents of 500 and 1000 mA g(-1) with very stable reversible capacities of 1070 and 948 mAh g(-1) to 100 and 200 cycles, respectively. At a higher specific current of 5000 mA g(-1), the electrode still delivers a reversible capacity of over 530 mAh g(-1) after 400 cycles, showing a capacity retention of as high as 84.4%. Such an impressive electrochemical performance is ascribed to the ideal combination of hierarchically porous structure, a highly conductive graphene platform, and high-level nitrogen doping in the sandwich-like PNCs@Gr electrode obtained via in situ synthesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University , Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, United States.
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University , Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, United States.|Department of Industrial & Manufacturing System Engineering, Iowa State University , Ames, Iowa 50011, United States.
authors.forename: Ziyang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines , Golden, Colorado 80401, United States.
authors.forename: Xuhui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University , Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, United States.
authors.forename: Wangwang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University , Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, United States.
authors.forename: Xiaodan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Kent State University , Kent, Ohio 44240, United States.
authors.forename: Jiuhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science & Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines , Golden, Colorado 80401, United States.
authors.forename: Moises A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Carreon
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science & Engineering, Nanyang Technological University , Singapore 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University , Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, United States.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: N-doped carbon; graphene; lithium ion batteries; metal organic frameworks; sandwich-like nanostructure