title: Sn-induced low-temperature growth of Ge nanowire electrodes with a large lithium storage capacity.
abstract: We herein present the synthesis of germanium (Ge) nanowires on Au-catalyzed low-temperature substrates using a simple thermal Ge/Sn co-evaporation method. Incorporation of a low-melting point metal (Sn) enables the efficient delivery of Ge vapor to the substrate, even at a source temperature below 600 °C. The as-synthesized nanowires were found to be a core/shell heterostructure, exhibiting a uniform single crystalline Ge sheathed within a thin amorphous germanium suboxide (GeO(x)) layer. Furthermore, these high-density Ge nanowires grown directly on metal current collectors can offer good electrical connection and easy strain relaxation due to huge volume expansion during Li ion insertion/extraction. Therefore, the self-supported Ge nanowire electrodes provided excellent large capacity with little fading upon cycling (a capacity of ∼900 mA h g(-1) at 1C rate).
authors.affiliation: Nano-Photonics Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, 136-791, Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Dae
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.forename: Jin-Gu
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Gwang-Hee
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jae-Gwan
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Kyung-Soo
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Yun-Ho
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Dong-Wan
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Kim