Past Events

Abstract
 

Nowadays, the fast rising population leads to huge energy demand. Clean, renewable, abundant and environmentally friendly energy resources are necessary, due to the limited supply and the severe environmental problems caused by coal. Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) and sodium-ion batteries (SIB) are the most promising energy storage candidates for renewable energies to ensure a stable and sustained power supply. In addition, with outstanding battery performance, flexible scale and low maintenance, lithium-ion battery has become preferable energy storage system for portable electronic devices and vehicles.

Metal oxides are the main study candidates for LIB and SIB due to their comparably high theoretical capacity. However, there is commonly a big volume change during cycling process for metal oxides. Therefore carbon-based materials are used in composites with metal oxides to provide volume buffer, for example graphene oxide (GO). Moreover, the battery performance may be influenced by particle size and nano-structure of the materials as well. In my work, different particle sizes of Fe2O3 are synthesized under various pH values and the effect of Fe2O3/GO composites on the battery performance are studied. In addition, ZnMn2O4 particles in different sizes are studied with and without GO wrapping for lithium-ion batteries, and it is found that the GO-wrapped small particles results in high and stable capacity. Finally, SnO2/carbon composites (including carbon layer and graphene sheets with different functional groups) are explored as anode materials for sodium-ion batteries.

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