Nanocrystals are promising structures, but they are too large for achieving maximum energy storage performance. We show that rescaling 3-nm particles through lithiation followed by delithiation leads to high-performance energy storage by realizing high capacitance close to the theoretical capacitance available via ion-to-atom redox reactions. Reactive force-field (ReaxFF) molecular dynamics simulations support the conclusion that Li atoms react with nickel oxide nanocrystals (NiO-n) to form lithiated core-shell structures (Ni:Li2O), whereas subsequent delithiation causes Ni:Li2O to form atomic clusters of NiO-a. This is consistent with in situ X-ray photoelectron and optical spectroscopy results showing that Ni(2+) of the nanocrystal changes during lithiation-delithiation through Ni(0) and back to Ni(2+). These processes are also demonstrated to provide a generic route to rescale another metal oxide. Furthermore, assembling NiO-a into the positive electrode of an asymmetric device enables extraction of full capacitance for a counter negative electrode, giving high energy density in addition to robust capacitance retention over 100,000 cycles.
Keywords: energy storage; in situ electrochemical spectroscopy; metal oxide nanocrystals; molecular dynamic simulation; rescaled atomic clusters.