Electrophoretic deposition of metal-organic framework derived porous copper oxide anode for lithium and sodium ion rechargeable cells

This article demonstrates the applicability of electrophoretically fabricated CuO-carbon black (CB) film as negative electrodes for lithium and sodium-ion rechargeable cells. CuO powder is derived from a thermally decomposed copper metal-organic framework (MOF) template. Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of CuO-CB electrode has been carried out from a stable CuO-CB suspension, which is prepared in isopropanol medium containing polyacrylic acid and nickel nitrate as dispersant and charging agent respectively. The obtained EPD films are found to be porous and strongly adherent to underlying current collector, with a uniform distribution of CB and CuO. These films are observed to retain a reversible specific capacity of 500 mA h g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 and 256 mA h g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 after 100 cycles as Li-ion battery and Na-ion battery anode respectively. The uniformly dispersed CuO within the conductive network of CB particles is found to sustain the high-rate battery operations efficiently and exhibit a specific capacity of 265 mA h g−1 at 5 A g−1 (LIB) and 140 mA h g−1 at 3 A g−1 (SIB). Owing to the simple and cost-effective route for fabricating these negative electrodes, electrophoretically deposited CuO-CB porous film proves to be a suitable candidate for high-rate Li-ion and Na-ion batteries.