Perspectives on Electrochemical Insertion of Lithium in Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

a single walled nanotube (SWNT) can be conceived as wrapping a one-atom-thick layer of graphite, called graphene, into a seamless cylinder with diameters in the range of 1-2 nm and lengths of several hundreds micrometer. They form long crystalline bundles consisting of a few to thousands of individual SWNTs packed in triangular lattices. The interstitial channels with a size of 0.6 nm provide the necessary intercalation sites analogous to those found in the interlayer galleries in graphite or the tetrahedral/octahedral vacancies in fcc C60. Lithium ion batteries are the main power source in today’s portable electronic devices. These also bear the great potential to take over as power sources of electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles. Owing to the successful development of carbon based anodes to be incorporated into lithium ion batteries,1 lithium intercalation into, for example, different carbon nanostructured materials emerged as an interdisciplinary topic to improve the overall device performances. Additionally, the outstanding electrical conductivity,