Hierarchical Mn3O4/Graphene Microflowers Fabricated via a Selective Dissolution Strategy for Alkali-Metal-Ion Storage

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 11; no. 15; pp. 14120 - 14125
• Main Authors: Tang, Chen, Xiong, Fangyu, Yao, Xuhui, Tan, Shuangshuang, Lan, Binxu, An, Qinyou, Luo, Ping, Mai, Liqiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 17-04-2019
• Subjects: Mn3O4; anode; selective dissolution; alkali-metal-ion battery; graphene; hierarchical nanostructure
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b00771

Mn3O4 is a potential anode for alkali-metal (Li/Na/K)-ion batteries because of the high capacity, abundant resources, and eco-friendliness. However, its ion storage performance is limited by poor electronic conductivity and large volume expansion during the charging/discharging process. In this study, we presented a facile dissolution strategy to fabricate ultrathin nanosheet-assembled hierarchical Mn3O4/graphene microflowers, realizing enhanced alkali-metal-ion storage performance. The synthetic mechanism was proven as the selective dissolution of vanadium via controlled experiments with different reaction times. The as-synthesized composites showed high lithium storage capacity (about 900 mA h g–1) and superior cyclability (∼400 mA h g–1 after 500 cycles). In addition, when evaluated as a Na-ion battery anode, the reversible capacity of about 200 mA h g–1 was attained, which remained at 167 mA h g–1 after 200 cycles. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, the potassium storage properties of Mn3O4 were evaluated for the first time and a reversible capacity of about 230 mA h g–1 was achieved. We believe that our findings will be instructive for future investigations of high-capacity anode materials for alkali-metal-ion batteries.