Papers by Author: Ting Fang

Abstract: Recently, combination of ductile carbonaceous materials with the metallic Sn has received a great deal of interest to be a novel anode material for lithium ion batteries, because of their higher capacity than the conventional graphite anodes and better cycleability than the pure Sn anodes. Electrochemical performance of the Sn/C composite anodes is influenced by the material system, particle size and size distribution of Sn as well as the amount of deposited Sn. This study revealed that a favorable Sn/C composite anode exhibited reduced size and uniformly distributed tin particles. The crystal structure, morphology and elemental distribution were analyzed by XRD patterns, SEM and EPMA, respectively. The carbothermal-reducted Sn/Mesophase graphite powder (MGP) composite anodes exhibited much higher capacity than the bare MGP, and the initial efficiency was also much higher than the metallic tin anode in literatures.

Abstract: Mn3O4 hausmannite, which is a normal spinel with the Mn2+ in the tetrahedral site and the Mn3+ in the tetrahedral site, is one of the most stable manganese oxides. Variation in the valence of Mn ions (2+, 3+ and 4+) contributes to several different structures of manganese oxides. The autoxidation of precipitated manganese hydroxide in an alkaline solution is a practical approach to synthesize hausmannite (Mn3O4) at low temperature. During the process, the particle size and morphology of derived products were totally different from the precursors even though nanometer-sized Mn(OH)2 crystals were fabricated at first. It was observed that the variation was resulted from the accumulation of produced Mn3O4 crystallites which departed from the original crystals. This study has not only discussed the influence of reactant concentrations on the particle size and morphology of derived powders, but also revealed the morphological transformation of crystals involved in autoxidation with the aid of electron micrographs

Abstract: Powdery hausmannite (Mn3O4) is of interest in many industrial and technological applications. It is widely used as reactive catalysts, raw material of humidity sensors, and the cathode oxides of Li-ion secondary batteries. In this study, sub-micron and nano-meter sized Mn3O4 powders are prepared by an efficient method at room temperature. Mn(OH)2 nanocrystalsare commonly precipitated at first and then oxidized in the alkaline solution containing excess OH- anions. However, conventionally prepared Mn3O4 powders by the above process are ill-crystallized. To enhance the crystallinity of fabricated powders, CO3 2- anions are introduced into the process. The modified autoxidation method is practical to fabricate low-cost and high grade powders of Mn3O4. Advantages of the modified method are confirmed by both the electron micrographs and XRD patterns of synthesized powders. It is revealed that particle size of the products is in the sub-micron meter range, and the particle morphology can be adjusted by altering the precipitation sequence.

Abstract: LiCoO2 spinel is one of the most promising cathode materials for Li-ion batteries. However, the capacity fading is aggravated at high voltage, resulting from cathode degradation and electrolyte decomposition owing to over-charging. To improve structural stability, surface modification is an effective method. In this study, nano-crystallized ZnO was coated on the surface of commercial LiCoO2 powders via sol-gel method. The correlation among the amount of coated ZnO, microstructure of modified cathode and the cycling behavior of surface-treated LiCoO2 powders is discussed. Moreover, the effects of cycling for cathodes with as-derived powders on the phase and morphology are also considered. The surface morphology observed from the scanning electron microscope (SEM) images shows that nano-crystallized and spherical ZnO particles with an average size of about 20 nm have developed after coating. The size of ZnO nanocrystallites is related to the initial concentration of Zn2+ cations. In comparing the characteristics of bare and coated LiCoO2 powders, improvement in cyceability of the ZnO-coated cathode is explored. It is confirmed that Zn2+ ions diffuse into the surface region of LiCoO2 particles. To reveal the effects of Zone coating on enhancing the electrochemical properties of LiCoO2 cathode during charge and discharge, the morphological differences between the cathode material before and after cycling are discussed.