Ternary Self-Assembly of Ordered Metal Oxide-Graphene Nanocomposites for Electrochemical Energy Storage
Surfactant or polymer directed self-assembly has been widely investigated to prepare nanostructured metal oxides, semiconductors and polymers, but this approach is mostly limited to two-phase materials, organic/inorganic hybrids, and nanoparticle or polymer-based nanocomposites. Self-assembled nanostructures from more complex, multiscale and multiphase building blocks have been explored with limited success. Here, we demonstrate a ternary self-assembly approach using graphene as fundamental building blocks to construct metal oxide-graphene nanocomposites. A new class of layered nanocomposites is formed containing stable, ordered alternating layers of nanocrystalline metal oxides with graphene/graphene stacks. Alternatively, the graphene material can be incorporated into liquid-crystal-templated nanoporous structures to form high surface area, conductive networks. The self-assembly method can be also used to fabricate free standing, flexible metal oxide-graphene nanocomposite films and electrodes. We investigate the Li-ion insertion properties of the self-assembled electrodes for energy storage and show that the SnO2-graphene nanocomposite films can achieve near theoretical specific energy density without a significant charge/discharge degradation.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 979491
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-70609; KC0203020; TRN: US201010%%717
- Journal Information:
- ACS Nano, 4(3):1587–1595, Vol. 4, Issue 3
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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