One Dimensional Nanomaterials for Emerging Energy Storage

Abstract

One-dimensional nanomaterials can offer large surface area, facile strain relaxation upon cycling and efficient electron transport pathway to achieve high electrochemical performance. Hence, nanowires have attracted increasing interest in energy related fields. We designed the single nanowire electrochemical device for in situ probing the direct relationship between electrical transport, structure, and electrochemical properties of the single nanowire electrode to understand intrinsic reason of capacity fading. The results show that during the electrochemical reaction, conductivity of the nanowire electrode decreased, which limits the cycle life of the devices. We have developed a facile and high-yield strategy for the oriented formation of CNTs from metal−organic frameworks (MOFs). The appropriate graphitic N doping and the confined metal nanoparticles in CNTs both increase the densities of states near the Fermi level and reduce the work function, hence efficiently enhancing its oxygen reduction activity. In addition, we demonstrated the critical role of structural H2O. The results suggest that the H2O-solvated Zn2+ possesses largely reduced effective charge and thus reduced electrostatic interactions with the V2O5 framework, effectively promoting its diffusion. We also identified the exciting electrochemical properties (including high electric conductivity, small volume change and self-preserving effect) and superior sodium storage performance of alkaline earth metal vanadates through preparing CaV4O9 nanowires. Furthermore, a novel assembled nanoarchitecture was also presented, which consists of V2O3 nanoparticles embedded in amorphous carbon nanotubes that are then coassembled within a reduced graphene oxide network. The naturally integrated advantages of each subunit exhibit highly stable and ultrafast sodium-ion storage. Our work presented here can inspire new thought in constructing novel one-dimensional structures and accelerate the development of energy storage applications.