title: Hermetically Coated and Well-Separated Co3 O4 Nanophase within Porous Graphitic Carbon Nanosheets: Synthesis, Confinement Effect, and Improved Lithium-Storage Capacity and Durability.
abstract: Considerable lithium-driven volume changes and loss of crystallinity on cycling have impeded the sustainable use of transition metal oxides (MOs) as attractive anode materials for advanced lithium-ion batteries that have almost six times the capacity of carbon per unit volume. Herein, Co3 O4 was used as a model MO in a facile process involving two pyrolysis steps for in situ encapsulation of nanosized MO in porous two-dimensional graphitic carbon nanosheets (2D-GCNs) with high surface areas and abundant active sites to overcome the above-mentioned problems. The proposed method is inexpensive, industrially scalable, and easy to operate with a high yield. TEM revealed that the encaged Co3 O4 is well separated and uniformly dispersed with surrounding onionlike graphitic layers. By taking advantage of the high electronic conductivity and confinement effect of the surrounding 2D-GCNs, a hierarchical GCNs-coated Co3 O4 (Co3 O4 @GCNs) anode with 43.5 wt % entrapped active nanoparticles delivered a remarkable initial specific capacity of 1816 mAh g(-1) at a current density of 100 mA g(-1) . After 50 cycles, the retained capacity is as high as 987 mAh g(-1) . When the current density was increased to 1000 mA g(-1) , the anode showed a capacity retention of 416 mAh g(-1) . Enhanced reversible rate capability and prolonged cycling stability were found for Co3 O4 @GCN compared to pure GCNs and Co3 O4 . The Co3 O4 @GCNs hybrid holds promise as an efficient candidate material for anodes due to its low cost, environmentally friendly nature, high capacity, and stability.
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Power Batteries, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jingfei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Power Batteries, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Wangyu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Power Batteries, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yunyun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Power Batteries, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Power Batteries, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Power Batteries, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, P.R. China. sundongmei@njnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Dongmei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Power Batteries, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Power Batteries, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yiming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of New Power Batteries, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Biomedical Functional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210023, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yawen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
keywords: carbon; electrochemistry; lithium-ion batteries; nanostructures; template synthesis