Facile synthesis of flexible and free-standing cotton covered by graphene/MoO₂ for lithium-ions batteries

It is necessary to build flexible and free-standing materials for flexible/wearable electronics in high-performance lithium-ions batteries. Herein, we design and fabricate a flexible and free-standing 3 D carbon/MoO₂ composite through a facile immersing method followed by an annealing process. The carbon framework is supported by non-woven cotton totally covered by graphene sheets. The nanosized MoO₂ particles were uniformly anchored on cotton fibers and graphene sheets. The structure has several advantages, such as an interconnected 3D electronically conductive network, plenty of channels for electrolyte solution cross, and more active points for the electrode reaction. Compared with cotton/MoO₂ (C/MoO₂) without graphene sheets, the CGN/MoO₂ composite (cotton covered by graphene/MoO₂) showed much better thermal stability and excellent cycling performance. The proposed synthesis process paves a new way as promising electrode materials for high power battery applications such as roll-up displays and wearable devices.