Organogermanium Nanowire Cathodes for Efficient Lithium–Oxygen Batteries

Abstract

We report a technique for effectively neutralizing the generation of harmful superoxide species, the source of parasitic reactions, in lithium−oxygen batteries to generate stable substances. In organic electrolytes, organogermanium (Propa-germanium, Ge-132) nanowires can suppress solvated superoxide and induce strong surface-adsorption reaction due to their high anti-superoxide disproportionation activity. Resultantly, the effect of organogermanium nanowires mitigate toxic oxidative stress to stabilize organic electrolytes and promote good Li 2 O 2 growth. These factors led to long duration of the electrolytes and impressive rechargeability of lithium− oxygen batteries.

Ge nanowires on top of a Ge substrate for applications in anodes of Li and Na ion batteries: a first-principles study

“…Particularly, the adsorption energies on the side wall of the NW are less than those on the top of the NW and the substrate, indicating that the special configuration would ameliorate the characteristics of Ge anode effectively. 30–33 Compared with ordinary planar Ge model, the Ge NW model in this work has a larger specific surface area. Kohandehghan et al 19 experimentally demonstrated that Ge NW had higher capacity than planar germanium.…”