Abstract:
Excessive use of fossil fuels is negatively impacting the global economy. Using fossil fuels as an energy source is also affecting the environment. Hence, there is a need to replace fossil fuels with environmentally friendly and cost-effective materials. Lithium Batteries are a good candidate for this purpose. The main issue with Lithium batteries is that they are expensive, and the electrode material used in these are not environment friendly such as (nickel, Cobalt, etc.). Because of their remarkable electrochemical properties, multiple metal selenides (MMSs) have drawn the interest of scientists as potential electrode materials for energy storage devices. When compared to single-metal selenides, they exhibit higher intrinsic conductivities and more redox sites. However, the cost of precursor, limited cycle stability, and low-rate capabilities are still problems for researchers. The cost of precursors can be tackled by selecting cheap elemental combinations such as Aluminum and Copper coupled with carbon matrix, which increases intrinsic conductivity, rate capability, and long-term cyclic stability. A facile methodology is prepared to improve intrinsic conductivity, a hierarchically porous multiple metal selenide (Al-Cu-Se termed as ACSe) nanomaterials. The porous structure, embedded nanoparticles, combination with carbon matrix, and good conductivity result in extraordinary electrochemical performance. When employed in lithium metal batteries as anode material, as prepared ACSe showed good rate capability (532 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 and 400 mAh g-1 at 8 A g-1), sufficient cyclic stability (350 mAh g-1 after 2000 cycles at 1 A g-1), and high specific capacity (633.6 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 and 492.1 mAh g-1 at 4 A g-1). This novel combination of Aluminum Copper Selenide with nanochannels can be a good candidate for following generation energy storage devices.
