3D porous micro/nanostructured interconnected metal/metal oxide electrodes for high-rate lithium storage

In light of the micro/nanoporous structure concept and metal oxide-based anodes of lithium ion batteries (LIBs), a novel kind of three dimensional (3D) porous micro/nanostructured interconnected (PMNI) metal/metal oxide electrode was successfully fabricated via a facile H₂ gas bubble dynamic template route. Firstly, 3D porous Ni (and Cu) was electrodeposited on the stainless steel sheet by the drastic cathodic deposition, partially thermally oxidized at a low temperature in air, and finally formed 3D PMNI Ni/NiO and Cu/Cu₂O. Directly, as anodes of LIBs, 3D PMNI Ni/NiO and Cu/Cu ₂O exhibit a high-rate capability of 675.9 and 312.8 mA h g ^-1 at 20C rate, respectively. High-rate lithium storage properties may be ascribed to the fact that this kind of 3D PMNI metal/metal oxide electrode provides a stable 3D scaffold, highly conductive pathway and shorter ion diffusion length. Note that the H₂ gas bubble dynamic template route in the present work is a low cost, facile one-step process of formation and elimination of the template, and offers flexibility in controllable thickness and pore diameters of 3D porous structures, assuring optimization to match the characteristic kinetics of other LIBs electrodes. The strategy may open up a new way to design and optimize 3D multifunctional architectured electrodes by using suitable micro and nano dimensional sub-components.