Electrochemically deposited nanowires of manganese oxide as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries

Nanowires of manganese oxide are electrochemically synthesized on nickel substrate by manganous acetate solution at room temperature without any template or catalyst. The synthesized electrode of high porosity is composed of 8–12 nm nanowires after 300 °C annealing. These manganese oxide nanowires show low crystallization. The synthesized anode material has a much higher capacity than the traditional graphite materials for lithium storage. The electrode’s reversible capacity reaches 1160 mAh g−1 at the first cycle; the specific capacity retention after 50 charge–discharge cycles remains 61% of its initial capacity. During cyclic voltammetric measurements, the linear relationship between peak current and square root of the scan rate suggests that the reaction is controlled by a semi-infinite diffusion of lithium. The diffusion coefficient of lithium in the synthesized manganese oxide is estimated to be in the order of 10–13 cm2 s−1.