title: In situ encapsulation of germanium clusters in carbon nanofibers: high-performance anodes for lithium-ion batteries.
abstract: Alloyed anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) usually suffer from considerable capacity losses during charge-discharge process. Herein, in situ-grown germanium clusters are homogeneously encapsulated into porous nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers (N-CNFs) to form Ge/N-CNFs hybrids, using a facile electrospinning method followed by thermal treatment. When used as anode in LIBs, the Ge/N-CNFs hybrids exhibit excellent lithium storage performance in terms of specific capacity, cycling stability, and rate capability. The excellent electrochemical properties can be attributed to the unique structural features: the distribution of the germanium clusters, porous carbon nanofibers, and GeN chemical bonds all contribute to alleviating the large volume changes of germanium during the discharge-charge process, while at same time the unique porous N-CNFs not only increase the contact area between the electrode and the electrolyte, but also the conductivity of the hybrid.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cluster Science, Ministry of Education of China, Beijing Key Laboratory of Photoelectronic Electrophotonic, Conversion Materials, Department of Chemistry, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081 (PR China).
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Minhua
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cao
mesh_terms: D002152:Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D055664:Electrochemical Techniques; D004566:Electrodes; D005857:Germanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D056951:Photoelectron Spectroscopy; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D005857:Germanium
keywords: anode materials; carbon nanofibers; electrospinning; germanium; nitrogen