Free-standing reduced graphene oxide/MnO2–reduced graphene oxide–carbon nanotube nanocomposite flexible membrane as an anode for improving lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

To solve the barriers of poor rate capability and inferior cycling stability for the MnO₂ anode in lithium ion batteries, we present a highly flexible membrane anode employing two-dimensional (2D) reduced graphene oxide sheets (rGO) and a three-dimensional (3D) MnO₂–reduced graphene oxide–carbon nanotube nanocomposite (MGC) by a vacuum filtration and thermal annealing approach. All the components in the 2D/3D thin film anode have a synergistic effect on the improved performance. The initial discharge specific capacity of the electrode with the MnO₂ content of 56 wt% was 1656.8 mA h g⁻¹ and remains 1172.5 mA h g⁻¹ after 100 cycles at a density of 100 mA g⁻¹. On enhancing the density to 200 mA g⁻¹, the membrane-electrode still exhibits a large reversible discharging capacity of ∼948.9 mA h g⁻¹ after 300 cycles. Moreover, the flexible Li-ion battery with a large area also shows excellent electrochemical performance in different bending positions, which provides the potential for wearable energy storage devices.