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Gallium Arsenide As an Alloying Anode for Lithium Ion Batteries
Arsenic has been largely ignored as a candidate for Li alloying anode materials despite having the third best gravimetric capacity of the alloying metals and being abundant and inexpensive, on par with the cost of bulk silicon1. Gallium, a lithium alloying metal that melts at 29.8°C, has shown promise because of its self-healing ability at increased temperatures2, although it suffers from a lower gravimetric capacity than some of its more popular lithium alloying counterparts.
Here we show the synthesis of Gallium Arsenide by akalide reduction. It is characterized by powder x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, thermo-gravimetric analysis, and x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Electrochemical testing of lithium half-cells, cycled from 0.02 to 1.5V versus lithium at a rate of C/10, showed a reversible capacity of 1365 mAh/g with good capacity retention.
(1) Nitta, N.; Yushin, G. Particle & Particle Systems Characterization, 31, 317-336.
(2) Deshpande, R. D.; Li, J. C.; Cheng, Y. T.; Verbrugge, M. W. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 158, A845-A849.