Disodium terephthalate/multiwall-carbon nanotube nanocomposite as advanced anode material for Li-ion batteries

Organic small molecule materials have attracted extensive attention due to their environmentally friendly, sustainability, and low cost which can be obtained from biomass and recyclable resources for Li/Na-ion batteries. However, the intrinsic poor electronic conductivities and the dissolution in organic liquid electrolyte lead to poor electrochemical performance, thus preventing them from practical application. To tackle these issues, herein, we take disodium terephthalate (Na₂TP) as an example and report an organic/multiwall-carbon nanotube nanocomposite via a simple spray drying methodology as an anode material for Li-ion battery. It delivers improved electrochemical performance compared to the pristine Na₂TP microspheres produced by the same spray drying method and the bulk microsized Na₂TP prepared by a conventional water-crystallization method. This is mainly due to the as-prepared nanocomposite can shorten the Li-ion diffusion distance, form highly conductive network and slow the dissolution rate. Our simple methodology could be of interest designing newly organic composites.