Year

2017

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials

Abstract

Due to the continuously increasing worldwide depletion of fossil fuels and the demand for large-scale storage devices, electrical energy-storage systems have become a hot research topic for energy conversion from renewable resources, such as wind and solar power, to the energy grid to store the intermittent renewable energy. Rechargeable metal ion batteries have been paid great attention since the emergence of the lithium-ion battery, which has now conquered the portable electronic market and is forecast to continue to be the main choice for energy storage systems for the next generation. In addition, the sodium ion battery is attracting more and more attention due to its similar chemistry to the lithium ion battery, since Na and Li are in the same group of the periodic table of elements. In this doctoral thesis, different metal oxides, including hierarchical SnO2 hollow spheres with or without carbon coating, ZnCo2O4 microspheres and Zn0.85Co0.15O/C nanoparticles, multi-angular Na0.44MnO2 rods, and layered P2-type Na2/3Ni1/3Mn2/3O2 are studied as electrode materials, either as anode or cathode, for the lithium ion battery (LIB) or the sodium ion battery (SIB). The microstructure, composition, electrochemical performance, and reaction mechanism of each material have been systematically investigated with the result that metal oxides show their promising potential as electrode materials for next-generation rechargeable metal ion batteries.

FoR codes (2008)

0912 MATERIALS ENGINEERING

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Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong.