A novel CuSe-Cu1.8Se heterostructure with hexahedral structure cathode material for aluminum batteries

Abstract

Along with the energy consumption, clean energy such as secondary batteries are increasingly widely used in daily life. As a substitute for lithium-ion batteries, aluminum batteries have become a research hotspot because of environmental protection and lower price. However, as the research progresses, it is increasingly important to find a suitable cathode material for aluminum batteries. Therefore, we design a new Al battery by calcining Cu2O and Se powder at different temperatures in different mass ratios to obtain different phases. The CuSe-Cu1.8Se heterogeneous structure with hexahedral is obtained when the mass ratio of Cu2O and Se powder is 1:1 at 400 °C. Through electrochemical analysis, the CuSe-Cu1.8Se heterogeneous structure shows excellent electrochemical performance. At 1 A g−1, the charge and discharge specific capacity is 1440.4 mAh g−1 and 607.3 mAh g−1, respectively. The discharge specific capacity remains 185.8 mAh g−1 after 200 cycles. Moreover, the soft pack battery can still work normally after bending and shearing, showing incredible flexibility and safety. More importantly, the energy storage mechanism of reversible conversion Cu+/Cu2+ and Se2−/Se2+/Se4+ in CuSe-Cu1.8Se heterostructure is investigated by ex-situ XRD and XPS. It is believed that it can provide a new direction for the future development of aluminum batteries.