Journal article
Binder-free hierarchically-porous carbon nanofibers decorated with cobalt nanoparticles as efficient cathodes for lithium-oxygen batteries
RSC advances, v 6(105), pp 103072-103080
01 Jan 2016
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
The development of efficient cathodes is a great challenge inhibiting the advancement of lithium-oxygen (Li-O-2) batteries. In the present study, binder-free, high surface area hierarchically-porous carbon nanofibers decorated with cobalt nanoparticles (Co-PCNF) are investigated as cathodes for Li-O-2 batteries. We fabricate the nanofibers using a facile electrospinning technique followed by thermal treatment with in situ incorporation of cobalt nanoparticles. This method provides a free-standing, electron-conducting network with a hierarchical pore structure and effective dispersion of cobalt nanoparticles, which is directly used as a cathode in Li-O-2 cells without any binders. Li-O-2 cells with Co-PCNF as the cathode exhibit a high initial discharge capacity of 8800 mA h g(-1) at the current density of 100 mA g(-1), and can be recharged for more than 50 cycles with a limited discharge capacity of 500 mA h g(-1). In comparison, porous carbon nanofibers without cobalt provide a discharge capacity of 6670 mA h g(-1), and a cycle life of only 35 cycles. The post mortem analysis of discharged cathodes revealed Li2O2 as the major discharge product, and suggested a LiO2-mediated reaction mechanism responsible for the excellent performance of Co-PCNF.
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Details
- Title
- Binder-free hierarchically-porous carbon nanofibers decorated with cobalt nanoparticles as efficient cathodes for lithium-oxygen batteries
- Creators
- Richa Singhal - Drexel UniversityVibha Kalra - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- RSC advances, v 6(105), pp 103072-103080
- Publisher
- Royal Soc Chemistry
- Number of pages
- 9
- Grant note
- CBET-1236466 / National Science Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000387726500029
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84994228739
- Other Identifier
- 991019167701704721
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Chemistry, Multidisciplinary