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The changes in global energy trends and the high demand for secondary power sources, have led to a renewed interest in aqueous lithium-ion batteries. The selection of a suitable anode for aqueous media is a difficult task because many anode materials have poor cycling performance due to side reactions with water or dissolved oxygen. An effective method for improving the characteristics of anodes in aqueous electrolyte solutions is adding carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to the electrode materials. For a better comprehension of the mechanism of energy accumulation and the reasons for the loss of capacity during the cycling of chemical current sources, it is necessary to understand the behaviour of the constituent components of the anodes. Although CNTs are well studied theoretically and experimentally, there is no information about their behaviour in aqueous solutions during the intercalation/deintercalation of lithium ions. This work reveals the mechanism of operation of untreated and annealed single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) anodes during the intercalation/deintercalation of Li+ from an aqueous 5 M LiNO3 electrolyte. The presence of -COOH groups on the surface of untreated SWCNTs is the reason for the low discharge capacity of the SWCNT anode in 5 M LiNO3 (3 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles). Their performance was improved by annealing in a hydrogen atmosphere, which selectively removed the -COOH groups and increased the discharge capacity of SWCNT by a factor of 10 (33 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles).

This research was funded by the European Regional Development Fund Project (ERDF) No. 1.1.1.1/19/A/139. Y.R. acknowledges the support of post-doctoral ERDF project No. 1.1.1.2/VIAA/4/20/694. V.L. also acknowledges the support of “Strengthening of the capacity of doctoral studies at the University of Latvia within the framework of the new doctoral model”, identification No. 8.2.2.0/20/I/006. A.S. acknowledges the support from the Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia, which, as the Center of Excellence, has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-TeamingPhase2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2., In recent years, aqueous rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (ARLIBs) have attracted attention as an alternative technology for electrical storage. One of the perspective battery anode materials for application in ARLIBs is Bi2Se3, which has already shown good perspectives in the application of conventional lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) that use organic electrolytes. In this study, the electrochemical properties of Bi2Se3 thin films with two different layers on the electrode surface—the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) and the Bi2O3 layer—were investigated. The results of this work show that the formation of the SEI layer on the surface of Bi2Se3 thin films ensures high diffusivity of Li+, high electrochemical stability, and high capacity up to 100 cycles, demonstrating the perspectives of Bi2Se3 as anode material for ARLIBs. © 2022 by the authors. --//-- This is an open access article Lazarenko V., Rublova Y., Meija R., Andzane J., Voikiva V., Kons A., Sarakovskis A., Viksna A., Erts D. "Bi2Se3 Nanostructured Thin Films as Perspective Anodes for Aqueous Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Batteries" (2022) Batteries, 8 (10), art. no. 144, DOI: 10.3390/batteries8100144 published under the CC BY 4.0 licence., ERDF No. 1.1.1.1/19/A/139 and 1.1.1.2/VIAA/4/20/694; Latvijas Universitate 8.2.2.0/20/I/006; Institute of Solid-State Physics, University of Latvia has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme H2020-WIDESPREAD-01-2016-2017-Teaming Phase 2 under grant agreement No. 739508, project CAMART2.

Due to their layered structure and high theoretical capacity, bismuth chalcogenides have been proposed as anodes in organic electrolyte Li- and Na-ion batteries. On the other hand, their electrochemical properties in aqueous systems have not been reported. Here, the electrochemical performance of Bi2Se3 thin films in 1 M NaNO3 aqueous electrolyte is presented. This aqueous Bi2Se3 system was found to have up to two orders of magnitude increased diffusion coefficients, compared to other anode materials in Na electrolyte-based systems, as well as limited anode electrode degradation over 5 CVs and significant changes in the anode after 30 CVs.