Mesoporous Hollow Ge Microspheres Prepared via Molten-Salt Metallothermic Reaction for High-Performance Li-Storage...

Generally, Ge-based anodes are prepared by metallothermic reduction of GeO₂ with Mg at 650 °C. Herein, a molten-salt system is developed a low-temperature metallothermic reduction of GeO₂ to prepare nanostructured Ge based anode materials. Typically, mesoporous hollow Ge microspheres are prepared by reduction of GeO₂ with metallic Mg in molten ZnCl₂ (mp 292) at 350 °C. Monodispersed Ge particles are synthesized through reduction of GeO₂ with Mg in molten AlCl₃ (mp 192 °C) at 250 °C. The meso-porous Ge anode delivers the reversible capacity of 1291 mA h g^-1 at 0.2 C after 150 cycles with a retention of 97.3%, 1217 mA h g^-1 at 0.8 C after 400 cycles with a retention of 91.9%, and superior rate capability with a capacity of 673 mA h g^-1 even at 10 C. Then, the reaction mechanism and full-cell performance of as-prepared Ge anodes are studied systemically.