Oxidic Nanomaterials for High Density Storage in Li-ion Batteries

The oxides of a number of materials are very appealing candidates as substitutes for conventional anodes in lithium-ion batteries because of their high theoretical capacity, high electric conductivity low potential of lithium ion intercalation, as well as superior electron mobilities, with one such material, SnO2 being particularly appealing. For example nanostructured SnO2 materials have attracted wide interest due to their potential for use in a wide variety of applications from gas sensors and photocatalysts to transparent electrodes for energy conversion and energy storage devices.

The wide applicability of nanostructured materials in general arises from their quantum size effect, large surface area and high surface activity. Despite significant progress already made using standard synthetic methods, many potentially interesting oxidic materials are still far from commercialisation. Therefore, it is imperative that new oxidic anode materials with novel architectures are investigated to further the development of commercially viable electrodes with high energy and power densities. Self-assembled hybrid nanoparticles can satisfy many requirements required for energy storage, making them interesting anode materials.

Project aims

• Develop a general approach for the synthesis of a number of crystalline oxide materials of interest for lithium ion storage (SnO2, LiCoO2 and LiMn2O4)
• Develop the technology to attach multilayers of these materials to conducting substrates
• Characterise the materials as
• monolayers
• multilayers within a device architecture
• Determine the potential of these nanomaterials for their charge storage capacity