Adhesion and Stability Increased Carbon Nanowall for the Application to Lithium-Ion Batteries

Carbon nanowalls are used as electrodes for second batteries because of the widest reaction surface area among the carbon-based nanomaterials, but their practical application is limited due to the disadvantages of adhesion and stability to lithium-ion batteries. In this research, titanium, titanium nitride, and chromium layers were used as an interlayer between the copper foil and the carbon nanowalls in order to increase the adhesive force and stability. The interlayer was deposited on the substrate using a radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering system with a four-inch Ti, TiN, or Cr target. The carbon nanowalls are then grown on interlayer-coated copper foil using a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system and used as a charge collector for lithium-ion batteries. The middle layer of each sample was identified using a field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). Impedance measurement and charge/discharge tests were performed to evaluate the characteristics of a lithium-ion battery. Based on the results of this experiment, it was noticed that the research goal can be achieved by inserting the mentioned intermediate layers, and CNWs synthesized on TiN interlayers present the best capacity retention measurement results, which is critical for the future development of lithium-ion batteries.