Covalently Tethered Polyoxometalate-Pyrene Hybrids for Noncovalent Sidewall Functionalization of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes as High-Performance Anode Material.

A covalently tethered polyoxometalate (POM)-pyrene hybrid (Py-SiW11) is utilized for the noncovalent functionalization of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). The resulting SWNTs/Py-SiW11 nanocomposite shows that both SiW11 and pyrene moieties could interact with SWNTs without causing any chemical decomposition. When used as anode material in lithium-ion batteries, the SWNTs/Py-SiW11 nanocomposite exhibits higher discharge capacities, and better rate capacity and cycling stability than the individual components. When the current density is 0.5 mA cm−2, the nanocomposite exhibits the initial discharge capacity of 1569.8 mAh g−1, and a high discharge capacity of 580 mAh g−1 for up to 100 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]