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Interface-modulated approach toward multilevel metal oxide nanotubes for lithium-ion batteries and oxygen reduction reaction

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Abstract

Metal oxide hollow structures with multilevel interiors are of great interest for potential applications such as catalysis, chemical sensing, drug delivery, and energy storage. However, the controlled synthesis of multilevel nanotubes remains a great challenge. Here we develop a facile interface-modulated approach toward the synthesis of complex metal oxide multilevel nanotubes with tunable interior structures through electrospinning followed by controlled heat treatment. This versatile strategy can be effectively applied to fabricate wire-in-tube and tube-in-tube nanotubes of various metal oxides. These multilevel nanotubes possess a large specific surface area, fast mass transport, good strain accommodation, and high packing density, which are advantageous for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Specifically, shrinkable CoMn2O4 tube-in-tube nanotubes as a lithium-ion battery anode deliver a high discharge capacity of ~565 mAh·g−1 at a high rate of 2 A·g−1, maintaining 89% of the latter after 500 cycles. Further, as an oxygen reduction reaction catalyst, these nanotubes also exhibit excellent stability with about 92% current retention after 30,000 s, which is higher than that of commercial Pt/C (81%). Therefore, this feasible method may push the rapid development of one-dimensional (1D) nanomaterials. These multifunctional nanotubes have great potential in many frontier fields.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Jiashen Meng, Chaojiang Niu, Xiong Liu, Ziang Liu, Xuanpeng Wang, Jiantao Li, Wei Chen & Liqiang Mai

  2. Center for Nanochemistry, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Hongliang Chen & Xuefeng Guo

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  1. Jiashen Meng
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  2. Chaojiang Niu
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  3. Xiong Liu
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  4. Ziang Liu
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  5. Hongliang Chen
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  6. Xuanpeng Wang
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  7. Jiantao Li
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  8. Wei Chen
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  9. Xuefeng Guo
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  10. Liqiang Mai
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Correspondence to Xuefeng Guo or Liqiang Mai.

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Meng, J., Niu, C., Liu, X. et al. Interface-modulated approach toward multilevel metal oxide nanotubes for lithium-ion batteries and oxygen reduction reaction. Nano Res. 9, 2445–2457 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1130-x

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