Protective Oxide Coating for Ionic Conductive Solid Electrolyte Interphase.

To employ Li-based batteries to their full potential in a wide range of energy-storage applications, their capacity and performance stability must be improved. Si is a viable anode material for Li-based batteries in electric vehicles due to its high theoretical capacity and good economic feasibility. However, it suffers from physical and chemical degradation, leading to unstable electrochemical performance and preventing its incorporation in new Li-based battery systems. Herein, we applied a poly(vinyl alcohol)-PO4 protective coating for Si-graphite anodes and confirmed an improvement in the electrochemical performance. The experimental results revealed that the polymer acts as a binder to alleviate the pulverization of the electrode. Furthermore, the oxide coating reduces the loss of Li2O, which has high ionic conductivity, during operation, resulting in the formation of a stable solid electrolyte interphase. Our findings suggest that a stable and ion-conducting anode/interphase can be developed by applying an oxide and polymer coating in combined approach. Therefore, this study is expected to provide a basis for the further development and design of high-performance Li-based battery systems.

Low Temperature Synthesis of Rutile TiO2 Nanocrystals and Their Photovoltaic and Photocatalytic Properties.

We report a novel method of synthesizing rutile TiO2 nanocrystals at low temperature (200 degrees C) via a butanol rinsing process followed by heat treatment in an O2 atmosphere. The rutile nanocrystals show uniform size distribution of approximately 20 nm and good crystallinity confirmed by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. A mechanism for the low temperature synthesis of rutile nanocrystals is rationalized in terms of an explosive thermal decomposition reaction of butoxy groups on TiO2 powders with O2 gas. Characterizations of the photovoltaic and photocatalytic properties of rutile nanocrystals exhibited higher photoactivity than large-sized conventional rutile powder, which demonstrates that this novel synthesis technology could expand applications of rutile powders to various photoactive devices beyond solar cells and photocatalysts.