Template-Free Electrochemical Deposition of Interconnected ZnSb Nanoflakes for Li-Ion Battery Anodes

Abstract

A single-step fabrication of ZnSb nanostructures using template-free electrochemical deposition was developed. Results have indicated that ZnSb nanoflakes, nanowires, or nanoparticles with controlled composition could be obtained by adjusting the precursor concentration, applied voltage, and substrate type. The ZnSb nanostructures deposited on Cu foils were directly used as Li-ion battery anodes without the addition of any binder. Electrochemical analyses revealed that the interconnected ZnSb nanoflakes depicted high discharge capacities and a stable performance, which were better than that of ZnSb nanowires and nanoparticles. With an initial discharge capacity of 735 mA h/g and an initial Columbic efficiency of 85%, the ZnSb nanoflakes maintained a discharge capacity of 500 mA h/g with a Coulombic efficiency of 98% after 70 cycles at a current density of 100 mA/g (0.18 C). The ZnSb nanowires and nanoparticles showed a capacity of 190 and 40 mA h/g, respectively, after 70 cycles at the same current density. The improved performance of the interconnected ZnSb nanoflakes is attributed to their open structure, with a large surface area and small crystal grains, to facilitate the diffusion of Li ions and to buffer the large volume swings during the lithium intercalation process.

Review of Research on the Thermoelectric Material ZnSb

“…Some of them may use ways of depositing films of ZnSb, such as by MOCVD, sputtering [98,99] and electroplating [11,100], etc. By these techniques, it could be feasible to make composites and layered structures in a controlled way with different materials with suitable band offsets for energy filtering [101].…”

“…In recent years, renewed attention appeared due to a nanostructuring boom in material science, and the thermoelectric properties of ZnSb have been intensively studied and improved. There are also other energy-related applications of ZnSb actively being explored, such as electrodes for rechargeable Li-ion batteries [11], or phase change memory cells [12]. Table 1 lists some reported figure of merit zT.…”

Cobalt Oxide Nanorods Prepared by a Template-Free Method for Lithium Battery Application

“…However, the use of a template makes the synthetic procedure complicated, and template removal often leads to nanorod aggregation; moreover, this method is cost-prohibitive because a porous template is usually not reusable. Hence, much effort has been directed to the development of a facile synthesis method for 1-D nanorod structures without using a porous template [4,[8][9][10][11].…”

Surfactant-assisted solvothermal synthesis of single-crystal zinc antimonide nanorods

“…Large number of semiconductor nanorods, such as ZnO [3], ZnS [5], TiO 2 [6], Bi 2 Te 3 [7], and Sb 2 Te 3 [8], have been synthesized by various methods. Very recently, ZnSb nanostructures have been prepared by electrochemical deposition method [9,10]. However, a simple, quick, and cheap fabrication method of ZnSb nanorods or nanowires is urgently needed.…”