CHISELED NICKEL HYDROXIDE NANOPLATES GROWTH ON GRAPHENE SHEETS FOR LITHIUM ION BATTERIES

The morphologies and structures of Ni(OH)(2)-graphene hybrid materials were tailored by using different mineralizers in this work. It was revealed that the synergic effects of the highly oxidized graphene sheets and the mineralizers played a crucial role in controlling the morphology and structure of the nanocomposites, and Na2CO3 is a very effective mineralizer for growing chiseled 2D nanoplates of Ni(OH)(2) on graphene sheets. When produced with NaOH, fragmental Ni(OH)(2) crystals with irregular shapes erratically decorated on graphene sheets. In contrast, chiseled Ni (OH)(2) hexagonal nanoplates grown on graphene sheets were obtained when Na2CO3 was used as the mineralizer. These unique 2D-2D nanoarchitectures with higher contact area between the nanocrystals and graphene substrate can increase the interfacial interaction and then efficiently improve the structural stability of the composite material, thus exhibiting an enhanced Li storage capacity and excellent cycling performance of 562 mAh g(-1) after the 36th cycle.