(296b) Highly Ordered Mesoporous Materials As Potential Electrodes for Li-Ion Batteries

Bryan Yonemoto, Greg Hutchings, Feng Jiao*

Center for Catalytic Science & Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19716 USA. Fax: +1-302-831-1048; Tel: +1-302-831-3679; E-mail: jiao@udel.edu

A major goal of lithium battery research is to prepare electrodes that can sustain higher rates than present materials, for new high power applications such as HEV’s. Nanomaterials support high rates, although often at the expense of volumetric energy density. Nanostructured materials can offer advantages compared with nanoparticles. For example, we have shown that mesoporous β-MnO₂ is capable to accommodate 0.92 Li⁺ per Mn, while in a sharp contrast, Li⁺ ion cannot intercalate into micron sized β-MnO₂. Here, we will show our recent progress in the synthesis of novel nanostructured materials as potential electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries.

There is much current interest in mesoporous metal oxides. The synthesis of such solids, especially porous materials, often requires a templating approach. Soft templates, e.g. long surfactant molecules, or hard templates, e.g. mesoporous silica, may be used. However, it is difficult to prepare metal oxides with extremely large pores (> 10 nm) by such routes. Overcoming this challenge is important if we are to prepare mesoporous transition metal oxides with enhanced electrochemical properties. We will describe the synthesis of a wide range of mesoporous transition metal oxides by using mesoporous silica as hard template. The as-prepared mesoporous compounds exhibit superior performance compared with their normal analogues.

References:

1.   Ren, Y., Armstrong, A. R., Jiao, F. & Bruce, P. G. Influence of Size on the Rate of Mesoporous Electrodes for Lithium Batteries. Journal of the American Chemical Society 132, 996-1004 (2010).

2.   Jiao, F., Bao, J. L., Hill, A. H. & Bruce, P. G. Synthesis of Ordered Mesoporous Li-Mn-O Spinel as a Positive Electrode for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries. Angewandte Chemie-International Edition 47, 9711-9716 (2008).