Porous Spheres Assembled from Polythiophene (PTh)-Coated Ultrathin MnO2 Nanosheets with Enhanced Lithium Storage Capabilities

In this work, we propose a strategy to enhance the lithium storage capabilities of metal oxide based anodes for lithium-ion batteries through nanopainting with a thin layer of conducting polymer. To demonstrate the concept, we have developed a facile, one-step aqueous/organic interfacial synthesis to prepare polythiophene (PTh)-coated ultrathin MnO2 nanosheets (approximate to 5 nm) with a uniform mesoporous hierarchical structure. When evaluated for lithium storage capability, the MnO2/PTh nanocomposite exhibits enhanced capacity retention upon high-rate charge/discharge cycling.