High-capacity NiO-(mesocarbon microbeads) conversion anode for lithium-ion battery

Aconversion-type,NiO–MCMB (mesocarbon microbeads) com-posite anode prepared by high-energyballmilling is here char-acterized and tested in lithium half and full cells. An optimizedand submicrometric morphologyallows the NiO–MCMB elec-trode to achievehigh cell performance and excellent rate ca-pability, that is, delivering specific capacities of 515 and450 mAhg¢1when cycled at current densities as high as 545and 1090 mA g¢1,respectively.The NiO–MCMBcompositeanode is studied in afull lithium-ion battery using ahigh-volt-age LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4electrode that is considered asuitable cath-ode in combinationwith conversion-type electrodes. The bat-tery delivers aspecific capacity of 90 mAhg¢1with high cou-lombic efficiency and an average workingvoltage of 4.1 V. Theelectrochemical results suggest the viability of the alternativecell configurationhere adopted for the development of low-cost, high-energy-densitylithium-ion batteries.