Anode properties of lithium storage alloy electrodes prepared by gas-deposition

To improve the charge-discharge cycle stability, we adopted a gas-deposition (GD) method to prepare lithium storage alloy electrodes. The resulting Mg2Ge GD film exhibited an increase in both charge and discharge capacities in comparison with the conventional bulk electrode, suggesting improvement of adhesion between the Mg2Ge layer and Cu foil. Furthermore, the cyclability of the GD film electrode was noticeably superior to that of the bulk electrode. The discharge capacity of the film electrode maintained 35% of the initial capacity, even at the 200th cycle. It is noteworthy that the GD-film electrode was able to operate at very large current densities. (c) 2007 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.