J.H. Won, J.K. Kang
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology,
Korea
Keywords: polymer-triggered synthesis, anode for all Li-Ion types storages, expeditious, scalable, inexpensive
Summary:
Lithium-ion type energy storage is the most popular energy storage method, but now is a time when significant improvement is needed. Major attempts have been made to improve the components that makeup energy storage devices such as lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and capacitors (LICs), the most promising of which is the anode part. Nanocrystalline metals are promising building units to realize high-capacity replacing graphite in lithium-ion type energy storage, but several disadvantages that occur during repetitive reactions must be remedied. Another challenge is the lack of a fast and scalable process to possibly fabricate nanocrystalline metals into real electrodes. Herein, we report polymer-triggered synthesis process to generate graphene pliable pockets (GPPs) can remedying the limitations of nanocrystalline metals for high-performance LIBs and LICs. Also, we introduce Metal_encapsulated GPPs (M_GPPs) that can be fabricated via the ultrafast dynamic treatment of polymers and graphene on the surface of nanocrystalline metals. This process is also shown to enable scalable mass production upon increasing the batch size. The method we use is very different from the traditional way of coating nano metal materials with carbon precursors. We simply mix the graphene and metal nanoparticles in solution, then add the polymer and mix them well. At this time, we have learned how to accurately control the molecular weight of the polymer, and that is a crucial role in the formation of M_GPPs. We remove the polymer through low-temperature heat treatment (