Facile fabrication of coaxial Ge/CNT nanorod anode for lithium-ion battery

Abstract

In this work, CNTs are directly grown on the Ni-foam without deliberately using any catalyst and barrier layer. The CNTs coated Ni-foam is subsequently utilized as the substrate for Ge deposition, which formed a coaxial Ge/CNT nanorod structure and is evaluated as anode for lithium-ion battery. Due to the high conductivity contributed by CNTs and the strain-releasing structure derived from the coaxial nanorod, both of the rate capability and the cyclability of the anode are improved. As a result, at a high current density of 50 A/g, the anode delivered a specific capacity of 800 mAh/g. And no apparent capacity decay is detected after cycling for 300 cycles at 10 A/g.