Fabio Maroni

Anatase-TiO2 as low-cost and sustainable buffering filler for nanosize Silicon anodes in Lithium-ion batteries

The design of effective supporting matrices to efficiently cycle Si nanoparticles is often difficult to achieve and requires complex preparation strategies. In this work, we present a simple synthesis of low-cost and environmentally benign aAnatase TiO2 nanoparticles as buffering filler for Si nanoparticles (Si@TiO2 ). The average anatase TiO2 crystallite size was approximately 5 nm. A complete structural, morphological, and electrochemical characterization was performed. Electrochemical test results show very good specific capacity values of up to 1000 mAh g-1 and cycling at several specific currents, ranging from 500 to 2000 mA g-1 , demonstrating a very good tolerance to high cycling rates. Postmortem morphological analysis shows very good electrode integrity after 100 cycles at 500 mA g-1 specific current.

A high-voltage lithium-ion battery prepared using a Sn-decorated reduced graphene oxide anode and a LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 cathode

This paper describes the preparation and characterization of a high-voltage lithium-ion battery based on Sn-decorated reduced graphene oxide and LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 as the anode and cathode active materials, respectively. The Sn-decorated reduced graphene oxide is prepared using a microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis method followed by reduction at high temperature of a mixture of (C6H5)2SnCl2 and graphene oxide. The so-obtained anode material is characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and electron diffraction spectroscopy. The LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 is a commercially available product. The two materials are used to prepare composite electrodes, and their electrochemical properties are investigated by galvanostatic charge/discharge cycles at various current densities in lithium cells. The electrodes are then used to assemble a high-voltage lithium-ion cell, and the cell is tested to evaluate its performance as a function of discharge rate and cycle number.