Three-Dimensional Nanoelectrode by Metal Nanowire Nonwoven Clothes

Abstract

Metal nanowire nonwoven cloth (MNNC) is a metal sheet that has resulted from intertwined metal nanowires 100 nm in diameter with several dozen micrometers of length. Thus, it is a new metallic material having both a flexibility of the metal sheet and a large specific surface area of the nanowires. As an application that utilizes these properties, we propose a high-cyclability electrode for Li storage batteries, in which an active material is deposited or coated on MNNC. The proposed electrode can work without any binders, conductive additives, and current collectors, which might largely improve a practical gravimetric energy density. Huge electrode surfaces provide efficient ion/electron transports, and sufficient interspaces between the respective nanowires accommodate large volume expansions of the active material. To demonstrate these advantages, we have fabricated a NiO-covered nickel nanowire nonwoven cloth (NNNC) by electroless deposition under a magnetic field and annealing in air. The adequately annealed NNNC was shown to be an excellent conversion-type electrode that exhibits a quite high cyclability, 500 mAh/g at 1 C after 300 cycles, compared to that of a composite electrode consisting of NiO nanoparticles. Thus, the present design concept will contribute to a game-changing technology in future lithium ion battery (LIB) electrodes.

Free-standing Ni–NiO nanofiber cloth anode for high capacity and high rate Li-ion batteries

“…[8][9][10] LIB electrodes often consist of conductive additives, binder, current collector, and active material. [7,[11][12][13] One method of increasing the overall gravimetric capacity of a LIB cell is to eliminate the use of conductive additives and binders in the system. Binders and conductive additives can be replaced by utilizing free-standing electrodes with an embedded current collector.…”

“…[7] This material system exhibits a high theoretical capacity of 718 mAh g -1 and an ability to be easily transformed into various 3D structures for use in innovative electrodes. [12] However, the electrochemical performance of NiO is limited by large variations in volume during lithiation/delithiation and poor conductivity. To combat this issue, various nanostructures have been employed to improve the electrochemical performance such as nanofibers, core-shell nanowires, and carbon structures coated in nickel oxides.…”

“…To combat this issue, various nanostructures have been employed to improve the electrochemical performance such as nanofibers, core-shell nanowires, and carbon structures coated in nickel oxides. [12,[22][23][24][25] Many of these structures exhibit a long cycle life up to thousands of cycles, exceptional cycling rates up to 10C or high capacities up to 800 mAh g -1 . [12,26,27] Although these structures have their advantages, none of them combine an outstanding cycle life, high charge current density, and exceptional capacity with a freestanding electrode.…”

Fabrication of Au nanoparticles on poly(vinylpyrrolidone) nanowires exhibiting reversible frequency change of localized surface plasmon resonance

“…Nanowires (NWs) in particular have a high aspect-ratio, allowing spatial expansion from the nano-to micro-scale along the NW long axes. Owing to this unique onedimensional property, polymer, semiconductor, and metal NWs have received significant attention owing to their potential use in electrical, [28][29][30][31] optical, 32 and bio-sensing 33 devices. Our groups have investigated polymer NWs fabricated using a single particle nanofabrication technique (SPNT).…”

Electrodeposition efficiency of Ni in the fabrication of highly ordered nanowire arrays: The roles of Cu pre-plating and barrier layer temperature

“…Ni nanowires (NWs) have recently gained considerable attention due to their possible applications in magnetic nanodevices, biological sensors and battery anodes [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Fast fabrication of patterned Ni NWs with a high degree of uniformity, long length and high density together with mass production can be demanding and important from both applicability and theoretical points of view [1,3,8,9].…”