Single-step fabrication of fibrous Si/Sn composite nanowire anodes by high-pressure He plasma sputtering for high-capacity Li-ion batteries.

To realize high-capacity Si anodes for next-generation Li-ion batteries, Si/Sn nanowires were fabricated in a single-step procedure using He plasma sputtering at a high pressure of 100-500 mTorr without substrate heating. The Si/Sn nanowires consisted of an amorphous Si core and a crystalline Sn shell. Si/Sn composite nanowire films formed a spider-web-like network structure, a rod-like structure, or an aggregated structure of nanowires and nanoparticles depending on the conditions used in the plasma process.

Nanostructured Ge and GeSn films by high-pressure He plasma sputtering for high-capacity Li ion battery anodes.

We fabricated nanostructured Ge and GeSn films using He radio-frequency magnetron plasma sputtering deposition. Monodisperse amorphous Ge and GeSn nanoparticles of 30-40 nm size were arranged without aggregation by off-axis sputtering deposition in the high He-gas-pressure range of 0.1 Torr.