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Published on: March 7, 2018
Multipod Bi(Cu2-xS) Nanocrystals formed by Dynamic Cation-Ligand Complexation and Their Use as Anodes for
Nilotpal Kapuria1, Sumair Imtiaz1, Abinaya Sankaran1
1Department of Chemical Sciences and Bernal Institute, University of Limerick, V94T9PXLimerick, Ireland.
Abstract:
We report the formation of an intermediate lamellar Cu-thiolate complex, and tuning its relative stability using alkylphosphonic acids are crucial to enabling controlled heteronucleation to form Bi(Cu2-S) heterostructures with a tunable number of Cu2-S stems on a Bi core. The denticity of the phosphonic acid group, concentration, and chain length of alkylphosphonic acids are critical factors determining the stability of the Cu-thiolate complex. Increasing the stability of the Cu-thiolate results in single Cu2-S stem formation, and decreased stability of the Cu-thiolate complex increases the degree of heteronucleation to form multiple Cu2-S stems on the Bi core. Spatially separated multiple Cu2-S stems transform into a support network to hold a fragmented Bi core when used as an anode in a K-ion battery, leading to a more stable cycling performance showing a specific capacity of ∼170 mAh·g-1 after 200 cycles compared to ∼111 mAh·g-1 for Bi-Cu2-S single-stem heterostructures.
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