Electric batteries, Vol. 8, Pages twelve: Reduced Graphene Oxide Aerogels with Functionalization-Mediated Disordered Stacking for Sodium-Ion Batteries
Batteries doi: 10. 3390/batteries8020012
Authors: Jaehyeung Park Jaswinder Sharma Charl J. Jafta Lilin He Harry M. Meyer III Jianlin Li Jong K. Keum Ngoc The. Nguyen Georgios Polizos
Surface modified reduced graphene oxide (rGO) aerogels were synthesized using the hydrothermal method. Ethylene diamine (EDA) and & amp; alpha; -cyclodextrin (CD) were used to functionalize the surface area of the graphene oxide layers. The oxygen decrease and surface modification occurred in-situ during the hydrothermal self-assembly process. The chemical functionality and structure associated with the resulting ethylene diamine modified (rGO-EDA) and cyclodextrin modified (rGO-CD) aerogels because well as of the pristine unmodified rGO aerogel were studied using XPS, SEM, XRD, and SANS techniques. The entire surface structure showed a significant decrease inside the oxygen content for all synthesized aerogels. The surface modified aerogels were characterized by a disordered stacking from the assembled rGO layers. The surface functionalities resulted in a broad distribution of the particular interlayer spacing and presented structural heterogeneities. Such disordered structures can enable the better adsorption mechanism of the sodium ions. Coin cells based on the synthesized aerogels and sodium metal were assembled and examined at several charge plus discharge rates. The relationship between the surface functionality of the rGO, the particular induced structural heterogeneities because of the disordered stacking, and the particular electrochemical performance of sodium-ion batteries were investigated. Operando XRD measurements were transported out throughout the battery cycling to investigate the adsorption or intercalation nature of the sodiation mechanism.
