526
Views
22
Crossref
N/A
WoS
21
Scopus
2
CSCD
Crystalline Ge is a highly active anode material for Li storage but inactive for Na storage because of high diffusion barrier. By in-situ Raman spectrum, we explore that the Na could reversibly alloy/dealloy with the amorphous Ge, but does not with the crystalline Ge. Herein, the amorphous Ge is fabricated by an acid-etching Zintl phase Mg2Ge route at room temperature, which shows a mesoporous architecture with a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 29.9 m2·g-1 and a Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) average pore diameter of 7.6 nm. This mesoporous architecture would enhance the Na-ion/electron diffusion rate and buffer the volume expansion. As a result, the as-prepared amorphous Ge shows superior Na-ion storage performance including high reversible capacity over 550 mA·h·g-1 at 0.2 C after 50 cycles, good rate capability with a capacity of 273 mA·h·g-1 maintained at 5.0 C, and long-term cycling stability with capacities of 450 mA·h·g-1 at 0.4 C after 200 cycles. For the K-ion storage, the amorphous Ge is also more active than the crystalline counter and maintains a capacity of 210 mA·h·g-1 after 100 cycles at 0.2 C.
This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21701163, 21671181, and 21831006), and Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. 1808085QB25).