One-Step Synthesis of Multi-Core-Void@Shell Structured Silicon Anode for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries.

The core-void@shell architecture shows great advantages in enhancing cycling stability and high-rate performance of Si-based anodes. However, it is usually synthesized by template methods which are complex and environmentally unfriendly and would lead to low-efficiency charge and mass exchange because of the single-point van der Waals contact between the Si core and the shell. Here, a facile and benign one-step method to synthesize multi-Si-void@SiO structure, where abundant void spaces exist between multiple Si cores that are multi-point attached to a SiO shell through strong chemical bonding, is reported.

Enhancing capacity and transport kinetics of C@TiOcore-shell composite anode by phase interface engineering.

In nanocomposite electrodes, besides the synergistic effect that takes advantage of the merits of each component, phase interfaces between the components would contribute significantly to the overall electrochemical properties. However, the knowledge of such effects is far from being well developed up to now. The present work aims at a mechanistic understanding of the phase interface effect in C@TiOcore-shell nanocomposite anode which is both scientifically and industrially important.

Boosting Lithium-Ion Transport Kinetics by Increasing the Local Lithium-Ion Concentration Gradient in Composite Anodes of Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Constructing composite electrodes is considered to be a feasible way to realize high-specific-capacity Li-ion batteries. The core-double-shell-structured Si@C@TiO would be an ideal design for such batteries, considering that carbon (C) can buffer the volume change and TiO can constrain the structural deformation of Si. Although the electrochemical performance of the shells themselves is relatively clear, the complexity of the multishell heterointerface always results in an ambiguous understanding about the influence of the heterointerface on the electrochemical properties of the core material.

A salt-free zero-charged aqueous onion-phase enhances the solubility of fullerene C60 in water.

An onion-phase (multilamellar vesicular phase or Lalpha-phase) was prepared from salt-free zero-charged cationic and anionic (catanionic) surfactant mixtures of tetradecyltrimethylammonium hydroxide (TTAOH)/lauric acid (LA)/H2O. The H+ and OH- counterions form water (TTAOH + LA --> TTAL + H2O), leaving the solution salt free. The onion-phase solution has novel properties including low conductivity, low osmotic pressure and unscreened electrostatic repulsions between cationic and anionic surfactants because of the absence of salt.