Fabien Deschamps

Carbon xerogels as model materials: toward a relationship between pore texture and electrochemical behavior as anodes for lithium-ion batteries

The mechanisms of Li+ insertion in porous hard carbons used as anodes for Li-ion batteries are still a matter of debate, especially considering the divergence of electrochemical performances observed in the literature. Since these materials usually exhibit several levels of porosity, the pore texture versus electrochemical behavior relationship is difficult to establish. In this paper, we propose to use carbon xerogels, prepared from aqueous resorcinol–formaldehyde mixtures, as model materials for Li-ion battery anodes to study the influence of the pore texture on the overall electrochemical behavior. Indeed, carbon xerogels are described as microporous nodules linked together to form meso- or macroporous voids inside a 3D gel structure; the size of these voids can be tuned by changing the synthesis conditions without affecting other parameters such as the micropore volume. The materials are chosen so as to obtain identical average particle sizes, homogeneous coatings with similar thicknesses, and a comparable surface chemistry. The electrochemical behaviors of carbon xerogels as Li-ion anodes are correlated with the surface accessible to the electrolyte and are not dependent on the total specific surface area calculated by the BET method from nitrogen adsorption isotherms. The key parameter proposed to understand their behavior is the external surface area of the nodules, which corresponds to the surface of the meso/macropores.

A facile and fast electrochemical route to produce functional few-layer graphene sheets for lithium battery anode application

A simple approach for the production of polymer functionalized graphene nanosheets is reported. The resulting polyacrylonitrile chemisorbed on graphene sheets is made of 1 to 2 layers, with a large majority of graphene single-layers. This novel functionalized graphene exhibits good cycling stability as an anode in Li-ion batteries without a conductive additive or binder.

Acid acting as redispersing agent to form stable colloids from photoactive crystalline aqueous sol–gel TiO2 powder

AbstractIn this work, the redispersion of three nanocrystalline TiO2 colloids is studied: one pure and two Fe-doped titania. These three colloids are produced by an easy aqueous sol–gel synthesis using precipitation-acidic peptization of Ti precursor. For the two Fe-doped TiO2, one is doped during synthesis (primary doping) and the other is doped after the synthesis (secondary doping). The initial colloids are composed of crystalline TiO2 particles around 7 nm with good photocatalytic properties, tested on PNP degradation under visible light (wavelength >390 nm). The powders obtained by air drying of these three colloids are redispersed in water to produce colloids, which are compared to the initial colloid produced. For each colloid, five cycles of drying redispersion are achieved. The colloids are characterized by dynamic light scattering, zeta potential measurements, inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, nitrogen adsorption–desorption measurements, Mössbauer spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and photocatalytic tests. The results show that similar products are obtained between the cycles, maintaining homologous properties of colloids. This property of redispersion is mainly due to the acid (HNO3, HCl, or H2SO4) which protonates the surface of the TiO2 nanoparticle leading to high-surface charges and electrostatic repulsions between aggregates. This property can be very useful for industrial applications of this synthesis, especially as it allows the volume and weight to be reduced for transportation and storage. Moreover, results show that the pure TiO2 powder can be doped during its redispersion step. The redispersion of the TiO2 developed here is possible without surface functionalization or multiple step processes, contrary to commercial Degussa P25. A 2-year stability study of all the produced colloids has been performed by following the evolution of the macroscopic aspect and the physicochemical properties of these sols. This study showed high stability of the produced colloids. HighlightsCrystalline TiO2 colloids synthesized by aqueous sol–gel method.Redispersion cycles of the TiO2 dried powder are studied.Physicochemical and photocatalytic properties are maintained through redispersion.Acid plays the main role as the redispersing agent of the crystalline powder.Redispersion allows reduction of the volume and weight for transportation and storage.