Abstract
The controllable production of TiO2-based nanostructured composites has attracted great interest for the potential applications in storage energy, catalysis, and photonics. In this work, we demonstrate a facile method to produce amorphous TiO2 nanotube (a-TNT) arrays with Au nanocrystals (Au NCs) anchoring on the outmost surfaces of the a-TNTs (Au@TNT arrays) at room temperature. The spatial distribution of Au NCs along the longitudinal direction of the a-TNT arrays is tunable via the control of the sputtering time of Au. The Li-ion half cells (LIHCs) with the working electrode made from the Au@TNT arrays possess higher specific capacities than those with pure a-TNT arrays and exhibit great rate performance. The LIHCs with the Au@TNT arrays prepared with 60 seconds of the Au sputtering time exhibit the best rate performance and deliver discharge capacities of 320, 291, 286, 135, and 122 mAh·g−1 at current densities of 0.1, 0.5, 1, 5, and 10 A·g−1, respectively. The apparent diffusivity of lithium in the LIHCs increases linearly with the increase of the average size of Au NCs (amount of Au NCs/sputtering time). The results obtained in this work suggest that a-TNTs anchored with metallic nanocrystals have the potential to be anode materials of next-generation lithium-ion battery.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 7578-7589 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | International Journal of Energy Research |
Volume | 46 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Keywords
- Au nanocrystals
- a-TiO nanotubes
- diffusivity
- lithium-ion battery
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Nuclear Energy and Engineering
- Fuel Technology
- Energy Engineering and Power Technology