ABSTRACT
The electrochemical performance of nano- and micron-sized Co(3)O(4) is investigated, highlighting the substantial influence of the specific surface area on the obtainable specific capacities as well as the cycling stability. In fact, Co(3)O(4) materials with a high surface area (i.e. a small particle size) show superior specific features, which are, however, accompanied by a rapid capacity fading, owing to the increased formation of an insulating polymeric surface film that results from transition-metal-catalyzed electrolyte decomposition. The simultaneous coating with carbon of Co(3)O(4) nanoparticles and in situ reduction of the Co(3)O(4) by a carbothermal route yields a CoO-Co-C nanocomposite. The formation of this material substantially enhances the long-term cycling stability and coulombic efficiency of the lithium-ion active material used. Although the metallic cobalt enhances the electronic conductivity within the electrode and remains electrochemically inactive (as revealed by in situ powder X-ray diffraction analysis), it might have a detrimental effect on the long-term cycling stability by catalytically inducing continuous electrolyte decomposition.
ABSTRACT
A detailed X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) study of the surface and electrolyte decomposition layer of a LixNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 (NMC) cathode from commercial NMC/graphite cells by intense sputter depth profiling (SDP) using a polyatomic ion gun is provided. Cathodes of a cell after electrochemical formation and a cell at a state of initial capacity (SOIC) of 80%, which was reached after 2500 full cycles at 30 °C, are investigated.
ABSTRACT
Here we provide a detailed X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) study of the electrode/electrolyte interface of a graphite anode from commercial NMC/graphite cells by intense sputter depth profiling using a polyatomic ion gun. The uniqueness of this method lies in the approach using 13-step sputter depth profiling (SDP) to obtain a detailed model of the film structure, which forms at the electrode/electrolyte interface often noted as the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). In addition to the 13-step SDP, several reference experiments of the untreated anode before formation with and without electrolyte were carried out to support the interpretation. Within this work, it is shown that through charging effects during X-ray beam exposure chemical components cannot be determined by the binding energy (BE) values only, and in addition, that quantification by sputter rates is complicated for composite electrodes. A rough estimation of the SEI thickness was carried out by using the LiF and graphite signals as internal references.
ABSTRACT
We report the synthesis of new NHC gold(I) and NHC gold(III) halide, amino acid and dipeptide complexes. Transmetallation of the N-phenylalanine-substituted NHC silver complex 3 with Me2SAuCl yields the phenylalanine-NHC gold(I) conjugate 4a. Halide exchange with LiBr and oxidation of 4a with Br2 in CH2Cl2 yields the phenylalanine-NHC Au(I) and Au(III) bromides 4b and 4c, respectively. Reaction of N-Boc protected cysteine methyl ester (Boc-Cys-OMe) or the dipeptide N-Boc-Leu-Cys-OMe with the NHC gold chloride 6a yields the (NHC)Au-S complexed amino acid and dipeptide derivatives 8 and 9. The NHC gold(III) complexes 4c and 6c were characterised by single crystal X-ray analysis. All of the tested gold carbene complexes showed significant anti-tumor activity on the HeLa, HepG2 and HT-29 cancer cell lines. The best compounds show activity comparable to the well-known anti-cancer drug cisplatin. There seems to be no clear cut structure-activity relationship in the compounds tested, nor did we observe a dependence on the metal oxidation state or the different halide substituents. Given the ease of preparation, stability and high activity of the compounds described herein, it may be possible to design tumor-specific anti-cancer agents based on NHC gold amino acid conjugates in the future.
