Abstract
The focus of my work is to find the possibility of synthesizing cheap materials by simple approaches for high performance energy storage devices. Li-ion batteries and electrochemical capacitor are considered two important future energy storage systems. Copper and cuprous oxide is chosen as electrode materials for accomplishing this purpose and synthesized by simple and cost-effective approaches. In developing Li-ion battery anode material, uniform and monodispersed with tunable sized Cu2O nanocubes were synthesized by a low-temperature in-situ nucleation aqueous chemical reduction. The nanocubes with an edge length of approximately 80 nm used as an anode exhibit excellent lithium storage behavior. In the development of electrochemical capacitor electrode, Cu@Ni(OH)2 nanobelts were fabricated by two aluminum-driven spontaneous electrochemical depositing on carbon/aluminum electrodes. The CuNB acts as a three dimension nanosized current collector for fast electron transport. The Cu@Ni(OH)2 NBs function as pseudocapacitive electrodes, which exhibit a high specific capacitance and a remarkable rate performance. Both of these two studies show a possible electrode material for next generation high-energy and high-power energy storage devices.