Lead Oxide Microparticles Coated by Ethylenediamine-Cross-Linked Graphene Oxide for Lithium Ion Battery Anodes

Lead-based anodes in Li-ion batteries have potential in stationary storage applications, due to their high theoretical volumetric energy density. In this study, the cycle performance of PbO was improved by coating it with a network of graphene oxide sheets, cross-linked by ethylenediamine. The carbon coating reduced electrode capacity degradation from 0.42% to 0.22% per cycle over 200 cycles, increased Coulombic efficiency from 96% to 99%, and increased the accessible capacity of the electrodes through improved electrical connectivity. This low-temperature carbon coating technique is potentially advantageous to other metastable and low-melting electroactive materials.