Mesoporous carbon matrix confinement synthesis of ultrasmall WO3 nanocrystals for lithium ion batteries. Issue 43 (26th October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Changyao; Zhao, Yujuan; Zhou, Lili; Liu, Yang; Zhang, Wei; Zhao, Zaiwang; Hozzein, Wael N.; Alharbi, Hind M. S.; Li, Wei; Zhao, Dongyuan
• Is Part Of: Journal of materials chemistry. Volume 6:Issue 43(2018)
• Page Start: 21550
• Page End: 21557
• Publication Date: 2018-10-26
• Subjects: Materials -- Research -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Analytic -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 543.0284
• DOI: 10.1039/c8ta07145d
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-7488

Abstract

Abstract : Ultrasmall WO3 nanocrystals are synthesized via a mesoporous carbon matrix confinement growth strategy for lithium ion batteries. Abstract : Transition metal oxides (TMOs)/carbon nanocomposites are promising for high capacity long life lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Herein, we report a mesoporous carbon matrix confinement growth strategy to synthesize ultrasmall WO3 nanocrystals for lithium storage. In this strategy, WCl6 and phenolic resins (resol) are co-assembled with amphiphilic diblock copolymer PEO- b -PS into ordered mesostructures through an evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) process. During the pyrolysis process, the resol molecules can be polymerized and carbonized into amorphous mesoporous carbon matrices, which lock the amorphous W species well. Then, WO3 nanocrystals are formed and are uniformly distributed in the ordered mesoporous carbon matrix with the increased pyrolysis temperature; moreover, the particle size is well controlled to ∼3 nm under the confinement effect of the carbon matrices. The resultant ordered mesoporous carbon/WO3 composites show very large pore size (∼11.3 nm), high surface area (∼157 m 2 g −1 ), high pore volume (∼0.25 cm 3 g −1 ), and WO3 content of 84%. As an anode material for LIBs, the obtained composites show excellent cycling stability and rate performance. A high specific capacity of 440 mA h g −1 can be achieved after 100 cycles at a current density of 0.1 A g −1 . We believe that such a confinement synthesis strategy is versatile to create TMO-based nanocomposites for outstanding LIBs.