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Lithiation/Delithiation Synthesis of Few Layer Silicene Nanosheets for Rechargeable Li–O 2 Batteries
Author(s) -
Zhang Wenyu,
Sun Libo,
Nsanzimana Jean Marie Vianney,
Wang Xin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201705523
Subject(s) - silicene , materials science , nanotechnology , electrochemistry , layer (electronics) , silicon , electrochemical energy storage , chemical engineering , supercapacitor , optoelectronics , electrode , graphene , chemistry , engineering
Silicene has recently received increasing interest due to its unique properties. However, the synthesis of silicene remains challenging, which limits its wide applications. In this work, a top‐down lithiation and delithiation process is developed to prepare few layer silicene‐like nanosheets from ball‐milled silicon nanopowders. It is found that delithiation solvent plays a critical role in the structure evolution of the final products. The use of isopropyl alcohol renders 2D silicene‐like products 30–100 nm in length and ≈2.4 nm in thickness. The electrochemical characterization analysis suggests that the product shows high performance for rechargeable Li–O 2 batteries with 73% energy efficiency and high stability. The top‐down synthesis strategy proposed in this work not only provides a new solution to the challenging preparation issue of few layer silicene but also demonstrates the feasibility of producing 2D materials from nonlayered starting structures.