A Facile Method to In-Situ Synthesize Porous Ni₂GeO₄ Nano-Sheets on Nickel Foam as Advanced Anode Electrodes for Li-Ion Batteries.

Delong Ma,Xiaomin Shi,Anming Hu

doi:10.3390/nano6110218

Delong Ma, Xiaomin Shi + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/nano6110218

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Abstract

A strategy for growth of porous Ni2GeO4 nanosheets on conductive nickel (Ni) foam with robust adhesion as a high-performance electrode for Li-ion batteries is proposed and realized, through a facile two-step method. It involves the low temperature hydro-thermal synthesis of bimetallic (Ni, Ge) hydroxide nanosheets precursor on Ni foam substrates and subsequent thermal transformation to porous Ni2GeO4 nanosheets. The as-prepared Ni2GeO4 nanosheets possess many interparticle mesopores with a size range from 5 to 15 nm. The hierarchical structure of porous Ni2GeO4 nanosheets supported by Ni foam promises fast electron and ion transport, large electroactive surface area, and excellent structural stability. The efficacy of the specially designed structure is demonstrated by the superior electrochemical performance of the generated Ni2GeO4 nanosheets including a high capacity of 1.8 mA·h·cm−2 at a current density of 50 μA·cm−2, good cycle stability, and high power capability at room temperature. Because of simple conditions, this fabrication strategy may be easily extended to other mixed metal oxides (MxGeOy).

Highlights

Mixed metal oxides, MxGeOy (M = Zn, Cu, Cd, Co, Ge and In), as one of the most important families of functional inorganic materials, have numerous applications in the field of catalysts and optical devices, due to their abundant physical and chemical properties [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
Based on the aforementioned considerations, we developed a facile two-step strategy to grow porous Ni2GeO4 nanosheets on Ni foam with robust adhesion
Two steps are involved: mixed metal (Ni, Ge)OxOHy precursors in situ grown on Ni foam followed by a calcination process in N2 to form Ni2GeO4

Summary

Introduction

MxGeOy (M = Zn, Cu, Cd, Co, Ge and In), as one of the most important families of functional inorganic materials, have numerous applications in the field of catalysts and optical devices, due to their abundant physical and chemical properties [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. The synthesis of such mixed metal oxides is still very challenging by wet chemistry routes because of the high valence state of Ge4+ and high stability of GeO2 that make GeO32− only exist in an alkaline environment. The most successful work with respect to the synthesis of MxGeOy (except for Zn2GeO4) is based on a solid-chemistry strategy using Na2GeO3 as the precursors. It is important and urgent to develop an aqueous and controllable synthesis of MxGeOy

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