Carbon dioxide expanded ethanol assisted synthesis of carbon based metal composites and their catalytic and electrochemical performance in lithium ion batteries
Abstract Highly dispersed metals, metal oxides and their composites on substrates have received considerable interest in catalysis and lithium ion batteries, because of their superior properties compared with their single component counterparts. In this review, we introduce the properties of supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) expanded ethanol, such as low viscosity, near zero surface tension and high diffusivity. We discuss the deposition procedure and formation mechanism of carbon based composites in scCO2 expanded ethanol. This method has been used to fabricate several carbon based composites, such as metal and metal oxide composites deposited on zero dimensional colloidal carbon, one dimensional carbon nanotubes, two dimensional graphene, and three dimensional hierarchical porous carbon. These materials and their performance as anodic materials for lithium ion batteries will also be reviewed.