High Capacity Li Ion Battery Anodes Using Ge Nanowires

Abstract

Ge nanowire electrodes fabricated by using vapor-liquid-solid growth on metallic current collector substrates were found to have good performance during cycling with Li. An initial discharge capacity of 1141 mA.h/g was found to be stable over 20 cycles at the C/20 rate. High power rates were also observed up to 2C with Coulombic efficiency > 99%. Structural characterization revealed that the Ge nanowires remain intact and connected to the current collector after cycling. Nanowires connected directly to the current collector have facile strain relaxation and material durability, short Li diffusion distances, and good electronic conduction. Thus, Ge nanowire anodes are promising candidates for the development of high-energy-density lithium batteries.

Evaluating the performance of nanostructured materials as lithium-ion battery electrodes

“…Much like its Si neighbour, Ge undergoes a large (± 370%) volume change on (de)alloying which may also lead to pulverisation of the local structure and a rapid decline in electrode performance [53]. In contrast, however, Li + diffusion in Ge is 400 times higher than in Si [54,55], while Ge also possesses higher (10 4 ) electrical conductivity, leading to the potential adoption of Ge in future high-rate Li-ion batteries.…”

“…High capacity Ge nanowires grown directly on stainless steel foils provided one of the first insights into Ge utilization as a Li-ion anode [53]. The sub-100 nm wires offered stable cycle performance and remained structurally intact after successive cycling.…”

Catalytic Role of Ge in Highly Reversible GeO2/Ge/C Nanocomposite Anode Material for Lithium Batteries

“…Thus, much research has been focused on high capacity materials such as silicon (4200 mAh/g), [1][2][3][4][5][6] germanium (1623 mAh/g), [7][8][9][10][11][12][13] and tin (993 mAh/g) [14][15][16][17][18][19] to replace the graphite anode. The oxides of these metals (SiO, [20][21][22][23] Germanium dioxide nanoparticles have been previously studied as anode material for LIBs and were reported to react with up to 9 Li + during the first discharge cycle.…”

Fabrication of Si-based three-dimensional microbatteries: A review

“…2) 3D electrode material fabrication. This methodology is employed in processing materials, such as Si [40], Ge [41], TiO 2 [42], and LiCoO 2 [43]. It is the most commonly used experimental procedure to improve the electrochemical properties of a battery.…”