Flexible Carbon Nanotube-Cu2O Hybrid Electrodes for Li-Ion Batteries

This study demonstrates the formation of a flexible and free-standing carbon nanotube-copper oxide-poly(vinylidene fluoride) (CNT-Cu2O-PVDF) nanocomposite and its application as an electrode-separator material for Li-ion batteries. Binder-free hybrid electrodes are obtained by conformally coating CNTs with Cu2O via electrodeposition and then embedding the resulting architecture into a porous poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene) PVDF-HFP-SiO2 polymer electrolyte membrane. The synergistic presence of high-capacity transition metal oxides and conductive CNTs results in twice the reversible areal capacity of 2.3 mAh cm(-2) as compared to 1.2 mAh cm(-2) for pure CNTs.