Lithiation of Copper Selenide Nanocrystals

Progna Banerjee; Prashant K Jain

doi:10.1002/anie.201803358

Lithiation of Copper Selenide Nanocrystals

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2018 Jul 20;57(30):9315-9319. doi: 10.1002/anie.201803358. Epub 2018 Jun 20.

Authors

Progna Banerjee¹, Prashant K Jain^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
² Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 Matthews Ave, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.

PMID: 29863294
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201803358

Abstract

The search for ion-conductive solid electrolytes for Li⁺ batteries is an important scientific and technological challenge with economic and sustainable energy implications. In this study, nanocrystals (NCs) of the ion conductor copper selenide (Cu_2-y Se) were doped with Li by the process of cation exchange. Li_2x Cu_2-2x Se alloy NCs were formed at intermediate stages of the reaction, which was followed by phase segregation into Li₂ Se and Cu₂ Se domains. Li-doped Cu_2-y Se NCs and Li₂ Se NCs exhibit a possible SI phase at moderately elevated temperatures and warrant further ion-conductance tests. These findings may guide the design of nanostructured super-ionic electrolytes for Li⁺ transport.

Keywords: batteries; cation exchange; doping; quantum dot; solid electrolyte.