Nanostructured lithium-ion battery electrode composite materials via conformal graphene dispersion

A method of using a graphene-cellulosic polymer composition to modulate lithium-ion battery cathode performance, said method comprising:

• contacting an exfoliated graphene-cellulosic polymer composition with a composition comprising nanoparticulate LMO and a hydrophobic fluid component;
• depositing said compositions on a lithium-ion battery cathode substrate;
• and
• annealing said deposited compositions to conformally coat a said LMO nanoparticle with at least one of said graphene and an annealation product of said cellulosic polymer, thereby modulating at least one of the packing density of said LMO nanoparticles and manganese ion dissolution from said nanoparticles.

A method for forming a composite, comprising:

• agitating a mixture of nanoparticles of a material selected from lithium-ion cathode active materials for a lithium-ion battery and lithium-ion anode active materials for a lithium-ion battery, few-layered graphene comprising mono-, bi- and n-layered graphene, n being an integer selected from 3 to 6, and ethyl cellulose in a solvent to disperse said nanoparticles and said few-layered graphene with the ethyl cellulose so as to prevent aggregation of said nanoparticles;
• evaporating the solvent from the mixture to form a dispersion of said nanoparticles and said few-layered graphene with the ethyl cellulose;
• and
• ambient annealing the dispersion at a temperature for a period of time to decompose the ethyl cellulose, thereby resulting in said composite,
• wherein in said composite, said nanoparticles are evenly mixed with said few-layered graphene, and individual said nanoparticles, rather than multi-particle particulates, are conformally coated with a combination of said few-layered graphene and said annealation product of the ethyl cellulose that comprises amorphous carbon with sp2-carbon content, such that Raman spectroscopy of said composite has a peak at 2D-band;
• and
• wherein said few-layered graphene is not graphene oxide and is not reduced graphene oxide.