Biochemistry-derived porous carbon-encapsulated metal oxide nanocrystals for enhanced sodium storage
RIS ID
105375
Abstract
Transitional metal oxides are promising anode materials for sodium ion batteries (SIBs) due to their high theoretical capacities and material abundance; however, their sodium storage capability is significantly hindered by the sluggish sodiation/desodiation reaction kinetics. Herein, towards achieving fast and durable sodiation/desodiation reaction, Fe3O4 and Co3O4 nanocrystals encapsulated in carbon micro-spheres are synthesized via a biochemistry approach using recombinant elastin-like polypeptides containing hexahistidine tag (ELP16-His) followed by annealing. Fe3O4 and Co3O4 nanocrystals of approximately 5nm in size, which are uniformly dispersed in a carbon matrix, are obtained. The carbon-encapsulated metal oxides exhibit encouraging sodium storage capacities (657 and 246mAhg-1 at 0.1 and 2Ag-1, respectively, for carbon-encapsulated Fe3O4; 583 and 183mAhg-1 at 0.1 and 2Ag-1, respectively, for carbon-encapsulated Co3O4), and have a high capacity retention after 100 cycles at 0.5Ag-1. The superior electrochemical properties of the carbon-encapsulated metal oxide nanocrystals demonstrate their potential for use as anode materials for high-capacity, high-rate and durable sodium storage.
Publication Details
Zhou, Y., Sun, W., Rui, X., Zhou, Y., Ng, W., Yan, Q. & Fong, E. (2016). Biochemistry-derived porous carbon-encapsulated metal oxide nanocrystals for enhanced sodium storage. Nano Energy, 21 71-79.