Abstract
In this study, a facile room-temperature solution method is developed for the preparation of zinc oxide@graphene oxide (ZnO@GO) nanocomposites. Unlike the general process to obtain crystallized materials by heating, the room temperature we used can generate fine ZnO@GO nanocomposites with ultra-small ZnO nanocrystal (∼8 nm) and high weight content (∼84%). The obtained ZnO@GO nanocomposite was thoroughly characterized by various physicochemical techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, indicating well-dispersed ZnO on the GO layer and strong interaction between the each other. As an anode material for lithium-ion batteries, ZnO@GO exhibits high specific reversible capacity and excellent cycling performance, which can be ascribed to the role of GO in preventing the agglomeration of the ZnO nanoparticles by creating the decorated nanoscale composite during the electrochemical process.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A.S. Arico, P. Bruce, B. Scrosati, J-M. Tarascon, and W. van Schalkwijk: Nanostructured materials for advanced energy conversion and storage devices. Nat. Mater. 4, 366 (2005).
S. Goriparti, E. Miele, F. De Angelis, E. Di Fabrizio, R. Proietti Zaccaria, and C. Capiglia: Review on recent progress of nanostructured anode materials for Li-ion batteries. J. Power Sources 257, 421 (2014).
Q. Xiang, J. Yu, and M. Jaroniec: Graphene-based semiconductor photocatalysts. Chem. Soc. Rev. 41, 782 (2012).
Q. Zhang, C. Tian, A. Wu, T. Tan, L. Sun, L. Wang, and H. Fu: A facile one-pot route for the controllable growth of small sized and well-dispersed ZnO particles on GO-derived graphene. J. Mater. Chem. 22, 11778 (2012).
Y. Liang, Y. Li, H. Wang, J. Zhou, J. Wang, T. Regier, and H. Dai: Co3O4 nanocrystals on graphene as a synergistic catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction. Nat. Mater. 10, 780 (2011).
Y. Chen, X. Zang, J. Gu, S. Zhu, H. Su, D. Zhang, X. Hu, Q. Liu, W. Zhang, and D. Liu: ZnO single butterfly wing scales: Synthesis and spatial optical anisotropy. J. Mater. Chem. 21, 6140 (2011).
D.I. Son, B.W. Kwon, D.H. Park, W-S. Seo, Y. Yi, B. Angadi, C-L. Lee, and W.K. Choi: Emissive ZnO–graphene quantum dots for white-light-emitting diodes. Nat. Nanotechnol. 7, 465 (2012).
B. Zhang, Z. Wang, B. Huang, X. Zhang, X. Qin, H. Li, Y. Dai, and Y. Li: Anisotropic photoelectrochemical (PEC) performances of ZnO single-crystalline photoanode: Effect of internal electrostatic fields on the separation of photogenerated charge carriers during PEC water splitting. Chem. Mater. 28, 6613 (2016).
J. Wang, T. Tsuzuki, B. Tang, X. Hou, L. Sun, and X. Wang: Reduced graphene oxide/ZnO composite: Reusable adsorbent for pollutant management. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 4, 3084 (2012).
K. Qi, B. Cheng, J. Yu, and W. Ho: Review on the improvement of the photocatalytic and antibacterial activities of ZnO. J. Alloys Compd. 727, 792 (2017).
X. Liu, Y. Sun, M. Yu, Y. Yin, B. Yang, W. Cao, and M.N.R. Ashfold: Incident fluence dependent morphologies, photoluminescence and optical oxygen sensing properties of ZnO nanorods grown by pulsed laser deposition. J. Mater. Chem. C 3, 2557 (2015).
T. Sin Tee, T. Chun Hui, C. Wu Yi, Y. Chi Chin, A.A. Umar, G. Riski Titian, L. Hock Beng, L. Kok Sing, M. Yahaya, and M.M. Salleh: Microwave-assisted hydrolysis preparation of highly crystalline ZnO nanorod array for room temperature photoluminescence-based CO gas sensor. Sens. Actuators, B 227, 304 (2016).
X.H. Huang, X.H. Xia, Y.F. Yuan, and F. Zhou: Porous ZnO nanosheets grown on copper substrates as anodes for lithium ion batteries. Electrochim. Acta 56, 4960 (2011).
M. Ahmad, S. Yingying, A. Nisar, H. Sun, W. Shen, M. Wei, and J. Zhu: Synthesis of hierarchical flower-like ZnO nanostructures and their functionalization by Au nanoparticles for improved photocatalytic and high performance Li-ion battery anodes. J. Mater. Chem. 21, 7723 (2011).
R. Hong, T. Pan, J. Qian, and H. Li: Synthesis and surface modification of ZnO nanoparticles. Chem. Eng. J. 119, 71 (2006).
C.B. Ong, L.Y. Ng, and A.W. Mohammad: A review of ZnO nanoparticles as solar photocatalysts: Synthesis, mechanisms and applications. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 81, 536 (2018).
S. Eigler and A. Hirsch: Chemistry with graphene and graphene oxide—Challenges for synthetic chemists. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 53, 7720 (2014).
D.R. Dreyer, S. Park, C.W. Bielawski, and R.S. Ruoff: The chemistry of graphene oxide. Chem. Soc. Rev. 39, 228 (2010).
G. Williams and P.V. Kamat: Graphene–semiconductor nanocomposites: Excited-state interactions between ZnO nanoparticles and graphene oxide. Langmuir 25, 13869 (2009).
O. Akhavan: Graphene nanomesh by ZnO nanorod photocatalysts. ACS Nano 4, 4174 (2010).
Q-P. Luo, X-Y. Yu, B-X. Lei, H-Y. Chen, D-B. Kuang, and C-Y. Su: Reduced graphene oxide-hierarchical ZnO hollow sphere composites with enhanced photocurrent and photocatalytic activity. J. Mater. Chem. C 116, 8111 (2012).
Y-L. Chen, Z-A. Hu, Y-Q. Chang, H-W. Wang, Z-Y. Zhang, Y-Y. Yang, and H-Y. Wu: Zinc oxide/reduced graphene oxide composites and electrochemical capacitance enhanced by homogeneous incorporation of reduced graphene oxide sheets in zinc oxide matrix. J. Mater. Chem. C 115, 2563 (2011).
S. Li, Y. Xiao, X. Wang, and M. Cao: A ZnO–graphene hybrid with remarkably enhanced lithium storage capability. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 16, 25846 (2014).
H. Ren, J. Sun, R. Yu, M. Yang, L. Gu, P. Liu, H. Zhao, D. Kisailus, and D. Wang: Controllable synthesis of mesostructures from TiO2 hollow to porous nanospheres with superior rate performance for lithium ion batteries. Chem. Sci. 7, 793 (2016).
C. Kim, J.W. Kim, H. Kim, D.H. Kim, C. Choi, Y.S. Jung, and J. Park: Graphene oxide assisted synthesis of self-assembled zinc oxide for lithium-ion battery anode. Chem. Mater. 28, 8498 (2016).
Q. Huang, D. Zeng, H. Li, and C. Xie: Room temperature formaldehyde sensors with enhanced performance, fast response and recovery based on zinc oxide quantum dots/graphene nanocomposites. Nanoscale 4, 5651 (2012).
X. Dong, Y. Cao, J. Wang, M.B. Chan-Park, L. Wang, W. Huang, and P. Chen: Hybrid structure of zinc oxide nanorods and three dimensional graphene foam for supercapacitor and electrochemical sensor applications. RSC Adv. 2, 4364 (2012).
Y-C. Chen, K-i. Katsumata, Y-H. Chiu, K. Okada, N. Matsushita, and Y-J. Hsu: ZnO–graphene composites as practical photocatalysts for gaseous acetaldehyde degradation and electrolytic water oxidation. Appl. Catal., A 490, 1 (2015).
H. Chang, Z. Sun, K.Y-F. Ho, X. Tao, F. Yan, W-M. Kwok, and Z. Zheng: A highly sensitive ultraviolet sensor based on a facile in situ solution-grown ZnO nanorod/graphene heterostructure. Nanoscale 3, 258 (2011).
Y. Zhang, H. Li, L. Pan, T. Lu, and Z. Sun: Capacitive behavior of graphene–ZnO composite film for supercapacitors. J. Electroanal. Chem. 634, 68 (2009).
B. Liu and H.C. Zeng: Room temperature solution synthesis of monodispersed single-crystalline ZnO nanorods and derived hierarchical nanostructures. Langmuir 20, 4196 (2004).
H.L. Cao, X.F. Qian, Q. Gong, W.M. Du, X.D. Ma, and Z.K. Zhu: Shape- and size-controlled synthesis of nanometre ZnO from a simple solution route at room temperature. Nanotechnology 17, 3632 (2006).
C. Andriamiadamanana, C. Laberty-Robert, M.T. Sougrati, S. Casale, C. Davoisne, S. Patra, and F. Sauvage: Room-temperature synthesis of iron-doped anatase TiO2 for lithium-ion batteries and photocatalysis. Inorg. Chem. 53, 10129 (2014).
A.P.A. Oliveira, J-F. Hochepied, F. Grillon, and M-H. Berger: Controlled precipitation of zinc oxide particles at room temperature. Chem. Mater. 15, 3202 (2003).
W.S. Hummers and R.E. Offeman: Preparation of graphitic oxide. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 80, 1339 (1958).
B.F. Machado and P. Serp: Graphene-based materials for catalysis. Catal. Sci. Technol. 2, 54 (2012).
A.C. Ferrari, J.C. Meyer, V. Scardaci, C. Casiraghi, M. Lazzeri, F. Mauri, S. Piscanec, D. Jiang, K.S. Novoselov, S. Roth, and A.K. Geim: Raman spectrum of graphene and graphene layers. Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 187401 (2006).
N.P. Herring, S.H. Almahoudi, C.R. Olson, and M.S. El-Shall: Enhanced photocatalytic activity of ZnO–graphene nanocomposites prepared by microwave synthesis. J. Nanopart. Res. 14, 1277 (2012).
R. Atchudan, T.N.J.I. Edison, S. Perumal, D. Karthikeyan, and Y.R. Lee: Facile synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles decorated graphene oxide composite via simple solvothermal route and their photocatalytic activity on methylene blue degradation. J. Photochem. Photobiol., B 162, 500 (2016).
Y. Feng, Y. Zhang, X. Song, Y. Wei, and V.S. Battaglia: Facile hydrothermal fabrication of ZnO–graphene hybrid anode materials with excellent lithium storage properties. Sustainable Energy Fuels 1, 767 (2017).
M. Ahmad, E. Ahmed, Z.L. Hong, J.F. Xu, N.R. Khalid, A. Elhissi, and W. Ahmed: A facile one-step approach to synthesizing ZnO/graphene composites for enhanced degradation of methylene blue under visible light. Appl. Surf. Sci. 274, 273 (2013).
Y. Bu, Z. Chen, W. Li, and B. Hou: Highly efficient photocatalytic performance of graphene–ZnO quasi-shell–core composite material. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 5, 12361 (2013).
R. Guo, W. Yue, Y. An, Y. Ren, and X. Yan: Graphene-encapsulated porous carbon–ZnO composites as high-performance anode materials for Li-ion batteries. Electrochim. Acta 135, 161 (2014).
C. Ren, B. Yang, M. Wu, J. Xu, Z. Fu, Y. Lv, T. Guo, Y. Zhao, and C. Zhu: Synthesis of Ag/ZnO nanorods array with enhanced photocatalytic performance. J. Hazard. Mater. 182, 123 (2010).
N. Li, S.X. Jin, Q.Y. Liao, and C.X. Wang: ZnO anchored on vertically aligned graphene: Binder-free anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 6, 20590 (2014).
O.B. Chae, S. Park, J.H. Ryu, and S.M. Oh: Performance improvement of nano-sized zinc oxide electrode by embedding in carbon matrix for lithium-ion batteries. J. Electrochem. Soc. 160, A11 (2013).
A. Kushima, X.H. Liu, G. Zhu, Z.L. Wang, J.Y. Huang, and J. Li: Leapfrog cracking and nanoamorphization of ZnO nanowires during in situ electrochemical lithiation. Nano Lett. 11, 4535 (2011).
M. Ender, J. Illig, and E. Ivers-Tiffée: Three-electrode setups for lithium-ion batteries: I. Fem-simulation of different reference electrode designs and their implications for half-cell impedance spectra. J. Electrochem. Soc. 164, A71 (2017).
J. Costard, M. Ender, M. Weiss, and E. Ivers-Tiffée: Three-electrode setups for lithium-ion batteries: II. Experimental study of different reference electrode designs and their implications for half-cell impedance spectra. J. Electrochem. Soc. 164, A80 (2017).
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the independent innovation project of Qian Xuesen Laboratory of Space Technology.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Supplementary Material
43578_2018_33101506_MOESM1_ESM.docx
Supporting Information: Room-Temperature Synthesis of ZnO@GONanocompositeas Anode for Lithium-Ion Batteries (approximately 1.42 MB)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Qi, Y., Zhang, C., Liu, S. et al. Room-temperature synthesis of ZnO@GO nanocomposites as anode for lithium-ion batteries. Journal of Materials Research 33, 1506–1514 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2018.110
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2018.110