Synthesis of Ordered Mesoporous Tungsten Oxide–Carbon Nanocomposite for Anode in Lithium Ion Batteries

Abstract

In this study, we successfully synthesized the ordered mesoporous reduced tungsten oxide–carbon composite (m-WOx/C) by combined-assembly-by-soft-and-hard (CASH) method, in order to combine the advances of nanostructure, mesoporous morphology and carbon nanocomposite residual to improve specific capacity of the active material in lithium ion batteries anode. As an anode, the m-WOx/C electrode exhibited high initial lithiation capacity (1150 mAh/g) and delithiation capacity (720 mAh/g, coulombic efficiency: 63 %). The electrode also showed a stable cycle performance (up to 160 cycles with capacity retention: 87.8 %). The m-WOx/C electrode exhibited better electrochemical performance compared to pure mesoporous tungsten oxide (m-WO3) and bulk tungsten oxide-carbon composite (b-WOx/C). We conclude that the high performance of m-WOx/C electrode was attributed to the combination of ordered mesoporous structure effect and nanocomposite structure of transition metal oxide and amorphous carbon.