Highly Porous Mn3O4 Micro/Nanocuboids with In Situ Coated Carbon as Advanced Anode Material for Lithium‐Ion Batteries

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Vol. 14; no. 19
• Main Authors: Jiang, Yao, Yue, Ji‐Li, Guo, Qiubo, Xia, Qiuying, Zhou, Chong, Feng, Tao, Xu, Jing, Xia, Hui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Weinheim Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 09.05.2018
• Subjects: Anode effect; anodes; Carbon; Carbon content; Cycles; Electrical resistivity; Electrochemical analysis; Electrode materials; in situ coated carbon; Lithium-ion batteries; Manganese oxides; Metal oxides; micro/nanocuboids; Mn3O4; Nanotechnology; Porosity; Stability; Transition metal oxides
• ISSN: 1613-6810; 1613-6829
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.201704296

The electrochemical performance of most transition metal oxides based on the conversion mechanism is greatly restricted by inferior cycling stability, rate capability, high overpotential induced by the serious irreversible reactions, low electrical conductivity, and poor ion diffusivity. To mitigate these problems, highly porous Mn3O4 micro/nanocuboids with in situ formed carbon matrix (denoted as Mn3O4@C micro/nanocuboids) are designed and synthesized via a one‐pot hydrothermal method, in which glucose plays the roles of a reductive agent and a carbon source simultaneously. The carbon content, particle size, and pore structure in the composite can be facilely controlled, resulting in continuous carbon matrix with abundant pores in the cuboids. The as‐fabricated Mn3O4@C micro/nanocuboids exhibit large reversible specific capacity (879 mAh g−1 at the current density of 100 mA g−1) as well as outstanding cycling stability (86% capacity retention after 500 cycles) and rate capability, making it a potential candidate as anode material for lithium‐ion batteries. Moreover, this facile and effective synthetic strategy can be further explored as a universal approach for the synthesis of other hierarchical transition metal oxides and carbon hybrids with subtle structure engineering. A facile one‐pot synthetic route is rationally designed and employed for the synthesis of porous Mn3O4 micro/nanocuboids with in situ coated carbon. The smart electrode design realizes efficient transportation of electrons and ions. By tuning the size and porosity of Mn3O4@C micro/nanocuboids, an outstanding cycling stability with a large reversible specific capacity and excellent rate capability are achieved.