Electrodes engineering of high power, long life and excellent cycling stability for rechargeable lithium batteries

Although widely used, the current Li-ion battery technology still suffers from a lack of suitable electrodes with enhanced energy and power density, cycling stability, energy efficiency and cycling life. So far no reliable methods can satisfy all these requirements. There is therefore a need to seek novel electrodes that would combine all the advanced performances and satisfy the increasing demands for energy storage worldwide. Herein, we demonstrate a large-scale bottom-up assembly route for porous bubble hybrid electrodes with excellent electrochemical properties by creating composites based on nanomaterials uniformly dispersed on the outer and inner surfaces of a porous creased carbon bubble host, which serves to hold them tightly by the pores and creases during battery operation and sandwiches them between rapid ion and electron transport pathways. Such integrated electrodes exhibit ultrahigh specific capacity and excellent cycling stability at various rates. Long lifespan of 1000 cycles in half cells retaining more than 90% of their reversible capacity and large rates up to 327C for ensample electrodes are achieved with batteries' high energy density and supercapacitors impressive power density (where 1C rate represents a 1-h complete charge or discharge). (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.