Fig. 1: Merits of Al metal anode and microstructure characterizations of eutectic Al-Cu alloys.
From: Aluminum-copper alloy anode materials for high-energy aqueous aluminum batteries
a Comparisons of electrochemical properties, cost, and abundance for Al, Zn, K, Na, and Li. b Schematic illustrating the procedure to prepare lamella-nanostructured E-Al82Cu18 alloy composed of alternating α-Al (gray) and intermetallic Al2Cu (dark yellow) lamellas. c Photograph of as-prepared E-Al82Cu18 alloy sheets with dimensions of ~13 cm × ~1.5 cm × ~400 μm. Scale bar, 1 cm. d XRD patterns of E-Al82Cu18 (pink line), intermetallic Al2Cu (blue line) and monometallic Al (green line) electrode foils. The line patterns show reference cards 04–0787 and 25–0012 for face-centered cubic Al (yellow lines) and body-centered tetragonal Al2Cu (blue lines) according to JCPDS, respectively. e Representative optical micrograph of lamella-nanostructured E-Al82Cu18 alloy with an interlamellar spacing of ~420 nm. Scale bar, 5 μm. f SEM backscattered electron image of E-Al82Cu18 with different contrasts corresponding to α-Al and intermetallic Al2Cu lamellas, as well as the corresponding EDS elemental mapping of Cu (in green) and Al (in red). Scale bar, 1 μm. g HRTEM image of E-Al82Cu18 at Al2Cu/Al interfacial region. Scale bar, 2 nm. h, i FFT patterns of selected red and pink boxes in intermetallic Al2Cu (h) and metallic Al (i) phases. j HRTEM image of Al/Al2O3 interfacial region. Scale bar, 2 nm. k FFT patterns of the selected area in amorphous Al2O3 layer in j.
