A facile room temperature chemical transformation approach for binder-free thin film formation of Ag₂Te and lithiation/delithiation chemistry of the film

The present work demonstrates a highly controllable, facile and environmentally friendly aqueous solution based synthetic method for oxide contamination-free Ag₂Te thin films on desired substrates at room temperature using ion exchange induced chemical transformation of Ag/Ag_xO thin films. The films before and after chemical transformation reaction are characterized using an energy dispersive X-ray analyzer, field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, thin film X-ray diffraction technique, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and the selected area electron diffraction analysis technique. The as-deposited Ag₂Te films show a highly crystalline nature even without thermal treatment. Furthermore, the electrochemistry for lithiation/delithiation of the Ag₂Te film is studied for exploring its feasibility in the application as an anode material in a Li-ion battery. The experimentally estimated capacity of the Ag₂Te electrode for Li storage is found to be about two and half fold larger than the theoretical capacity of the Ag₂Te material. This implies that the binder-free Ag₂Te film prepared by the current method could find a potential application in the Li-ion or other similar charge storing devices.