Chemically shortened multi-walled carbon nanotubes used as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

• A modified Hummers' method was employed for cutting carbon nanotubes (CNT) short.
• Many oxygen functional groups were meanwhile introduced in the short CNTs.
• The short and oxygen-contained CNTs had good Li-ion performance as anode materials.

An easy chemically cutting process, modified Hummers' method, was proposed to treat multi-walled carbon nanotubes, successfully cutting pristine long, entangled carbon nanotubes into hydrosoluble pieces, mostly less than 200 nm. This short, chemically oxidized carbon nanotube was then applied as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries. The as-prepared material possessed higher reversible capacity and coulombic efficiency. The intrinsic factors were explored by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry.

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