NiO nanosheets grown on graphene nanosheets as superior anode materials for Li-ion batteries.

This paper reports a hydrothermal preparation of NiO-graphene sheet-on-sheet and nanoparticle-on-sheet nanostructures. The sheet-on-sheet nanocomposite showed highly reversible large capacities at a common current of 0.1 C and good rate capabilities. A large initial charge capacity of 1056 mAh/g was observed for the sheet-on-sheet composite at 0.1 C, which decreased by only 2.4% to 1031 mAh/g after 40 cycles of discharge and charge. This cycling performance is better than that of NiO nanosheets, graphene nanosheets, NiO-graphene nanoparticle-on-sheet, and previous carbon/carbon nanotube supported NiO composites. It is believed that the mechanical stability and electrical conductivity of NiO nanosheets are increased by graphene nanosheets (GNS), the aggregation or restacking of which to graphite platelets are, on the other hand, effectively prevented by NiO nanosheets.