The modulation of electrical charge transport in electrodes through mesoscale structural design is crucialin developing high-performance lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In this study, three nanocomposites werefabricated by incorporating ZrO2 nanoparticl...
The modulation of electrical charge transport in electrodes through mesoscale structural design is crucialin developing high-performance lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In this study, three nanocomposites werefabricated by incorporating ZrO2 nanoparticles into carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene nanoplatelets(GNPs), and GNP-CNT structures. The synthesizing was a simple hydrothermal method followed byannealing to prepare CNT-ZrO2 (C-Z), GNP-ZrO2 (G-Z), and GNP-CNT-ZrO2 (G-C-Z) materials for athree-dimensional highly efficient anode for LIBs. The electrochemical performance was evaluated usingcyclic voltammetry (CV), which demonstrated excellent reversibility for the G-C-Z material. A study onthe rate performance confirmed reversible discharge capacity of 512, 274, 248, 206, and 175 mAh/g at0.2, 1, 5, 15, and 20 A/g, respectively, for the G-C-Z anode, which demonstrated the highest reversibilityamong the synthesized anodes. Even after 500 cycles at a current density of 5 A/g, this electrode maintainedits specific capacity and electrochemical cycling reversibility at almost 98.5%. The lower capacityof C-Z and G-Z structures was attributed to the aggregation of constituents. The Nyquist plots after 500cycles demonstrated the lowest charge transfer resistance (Rct) of 52.19 X and the highest value of Li-iondiffusion coefficient (DLi+ ) for the G-C-Z anode, ensuring excellent long-life electron conductivity.