We report Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) based assembly of vanadium dioxide (VO(2)) nanowires. VO(2) nanowires were functionalized with stearic acid (SA) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and then spread on the surface in an aqueous phase in a LB trough. Surface pressure-area (pi-A) isotherms were recorded on the LB trough and show hysteretic behavior. Scanning electron microscopy investigations of morphology and alignment of the VO(2) nanowire films transferred at different points on the pi-A curve demonstrate that with increasing surface pressure there is a transition from well-separated domains of nanowires to compact and locally ordered nanowire monolayers, while aggregates of raftlike nanowire structures remain after expansion. Interestingly, X-ray diffraction studies show that VO(2) nanowire LB films exhibit (00l) crystal plane orientation, which is attributed to preferential coordination of SA and CTAB-SA complex to (001) surface of VO(2) nanowires thereby driving this orientation.
This review represents recent research on using chemical prelithiation to improve cycling performance of nanostructured electrode materials for lithium ion batteries in our group. We focus on two typical cathode materials, MoO3 nanobelts and FeSe2 nanoflowers. Methods of direct or secondary hydrothermal lithiation of MoO3 nanobelts and FeSe2 nanoflowers are described first, followed by electrochemical investigation of the samples before and after lithiation. Compared with pristine materials, lithiated samples exhibit better cycling capability. Prelithiation of other kinds of materials, such as V2O5, MnO2, etc. is also briefly reviewed. This demonstrates that prelithiation can be a powerful general approach for improving cycling performance of Li-ion battery electrode materials.
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