Muscle-like electrode design for Li-Te batteries

Abstract Li-Te batteries have been attracted much attention as a potential research for energy storage systems due to the overwhelming features in superior electronic conductivity and ultrahigh theoretical volumetric capacity when compared to Li-S and Li-Se batteries. The main challenge to develop Li-Te battery systems is to explore an ideal substrate for Te accommodation. Here we have designed and exploited a “muscle” structured electrode, which enables an excellent electrochemical performance. Te is confined in the hollow carbon cell as “tissue cell” and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are induced as “blood capillary”. Such an interesting design possesses multifold advantages. Specifically, many hollow carbon cells not only offer large void space for loading Te, giving rise to high mass loading of active materials, but also manifest a good contact between Te and carbon. In addition, the introduction of CNTs provides abundant channels along CNTs in the composites for both electron and ion transport upon cycling, yielding high discharge capacity. With this desired design, muscle-like electrode shows a high specific capacity of ~ 240 mA h g -1 after 500 cycles. This work would offer new ideas for developing other exceptional electrodes for energy storage applications.