Three-dimensional carbon/ZnO nanomembrane foam as an anode for lithium-ion battery with long-life and high areal capacity

Abstract

Herein, an electrode architecture design using three-dimensional carbon/ZnO nanomembrane composite foam (C/ZnO NM foam) was proposed to achieve highly stable areal capacity at a practical mass loading. The composite, consisting of three-dimensional interconnected carbon foam anchored with two-dimensional ZnO NMs, was directly used as an anode of a lithium-ion battery without additional additives. The large surface area and high porosity of the carbon foam lead to a high ZnO loading of 3–4 mg cm⁻². The flexibility of the ZnO NMs, effective electronic and ionic transport throughout the three-dimensional composite structure, and capacity from the carbon foam enhance the areal capacity and stability of the composite. Thus, the synthesized anode retains 92% capacity after 700 cycles at 2 A g⁻¹ and after 500 cycles at 5 A g⁻¹ and manifests a remarkable areal capacity of 4.3 mA h cm⁻². The proposed approach and the composite structure produced in this study may have important potential applications in many fields requiring high energy storage capacity.