Biologically Activated Noble Metal Alloys at the Nanoscale: For Lithium Ion Battery Anodes

We report the synthesis and electrochemical activity of gold and silver noble metals and their alloy nanowires using multiple virus clones as anode materials for lithium ion batteries. Using two clones, one for specificity (p8#9 virus) and one versatility (E4 virus), noble metal nanowires of high-as...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nano letters 2010-07, Vol.10 (7), p.2433-2440
Main Authors: Lee, Yun Jung, Lee, Youjin, Oh, Dahyun, Chen, Tiffany, Ceder, Gerbrand, Belcher, Angela M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alloys - chemical synthesis
Alloys - chemistry
Applied sciences
Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties
Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science
rheology
Direct energy conversion and energy accumulation
Electric Power Supplies
Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering
Electrical power engineering
Electrochemical conversion: primary and secondary batteries, fuel cells
Electrochemistry
Exact sciences and technology
Gold Alloys - chemical synthesis
Gold Alloys - chemistry
Low-dimensional structures (superlattices, quantum well structures, multilayers): structure, and nonelectronic properties
Materials science
Nanocrystalline materials
Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization
Nanotechnology - methods
Nanowires - chemistry
Nanowires - ultrastructure
Physics
Quantum wires
Silver - chemistry
Surfaces and interfaces
thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties)
Viruses - chemistry
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Summary:We report the synthesis and electrochemical activity of gold and silver noble metals and their alloy nanowires using multiple virus clones as anode materials for lithium ion batteries. Using two clones, one for specificity (p8#9 virus) and one versatility (E4 virus), noble metal nanowires of high-aspect ratio with diameters below 50 nm were successfully synthesized with control over particle sizes, morphologies, and compositions. The biologically derived noble metal alloy nanowires showed electrochemical activities toward lithium even when the electrodes were prepared from bulk powder forms. The improvement in capacity retention was accomplished by alloy formation and surface stabilization. Although the cost of noble metals renders them a less ideal choice for lithium ion batteries, these noble metal/alloy nanowires serve as great model systems to study electrochemically induced transformation at the nanoscale. Given the demonstration of the electrochemical activity of noble metal alloy nanowires with various compositions, the M13 biological toolkit extended its utility for the study on the basic electrochemical property of materials.
ISSN:1530-6984
1530-6992
DOI:10.1021/nl1005993