Synthesis and electrochemical performance of ruthenium oxide-coated carbon nanofibers as anode materials for lithium secondary batteries

• Published in: Applied surface science 2016-12, Vol.388, p.274-280
• Main Authors: Hyun, Yura, Choi, Jin-Yeong, Park, Heai-Ku, Lee, Chang-Seop
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anode materials; Anodes; Carbon fibers; Carbon Nanofibers; Chemical vapor deposition; Electrodes; Foams; Lithium; Lithium secondary batteries; Ruthenium Oxide; Storage batteries
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2016.01.095

•Ruthenium oxide (RuO2) coated carbon nanofibers (CNFs) on Ni foam were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition method and applied as anode materials of Li secondary batteries.•When RuO2/CNFs/Ni foam was used as the anode material, initial capacity was improved from 276mAh/g to 494mAh/g with retention rate of 47.4% after 30 cycles. In this study, ruthenium oxide (RuO2) coated carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were synthesized and applied as anode materials of Li secondary batteries. The CNFs were grown on Ni foam via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method after CNFs/Ni foam was put into the 0.01M RuCl3 solution. The ruthenium oxide-coated CNFs/Ni foam was dried in a dryer at 80°C. The morphologies, compositions, and crystal quality of RuO2/CNFs/Ni foam were characterized by SEM, EDS, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, and XPS. The electrochemical characteristics of RuO2/CNFs/Ni foam as anode of Li secondary batteries were investigated using three-electrode cell. The RuO2/CNFs/Ni foam was directly employed as a working electrode without any binder, and lithium foil was used as the counter and reference electrodes. LiClO4 (1M) was employed as electrolyte and dissolved in a mixture of propylene carbonate (PC): ethylene carbonate (EC) in a 1:1 volume ratio. The galvanostatic charge/discharge cycling and cyclic voltammetry measurements were carried out at room temperature by using a battery tester. In particular, synthesized RuO2/CNFs/Ni foam showed the highest retention rate (47.4%). The initial capacity (494mAh/g) was reduced to 234mAh/g after 30 cycles.