Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Princeton University are using self-assembling films of SnO₂-graphene nanocomposites to form stable, alternating layers of nanocrystalline metal oxide and graphene. These composites achieve near-theoretical specific energy densities for Li-ion energy storage without exhibiting significant degradation during repeated charge/discharge cycles.

The article describing this study has been published in ACS Nano (2010) and appears in a special video issue listing the 2010 most-accessed articles in ACS Nano and Nano Letters. A production of the American Chemical Society, the accompanying video features interviews with PNNL researcher Jun Liu and Prof. Ilhan Aksay of the department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton.

Commercial applications of this technology are being developed by Targray Technology International in conjunction with Vorbeck Materials Corporation (Jessup, MD).

March 9, 2011