Study of the effect of irradiation with Ca5+ ions on the increase in Ni nanotubes lifetime, applicable as the basis for lithium-ion batteries

The paper shows the promising application of ionizing radiation for directional modification of structural characteristics of nickel nanotubes and increasing the resource lifetime. As bombarding beams, Ca5+ ions with an energy of 68 MeV were used. The fluence of radiation was 1010 and 1011 ions cm−2. To assess the degradation of nanostructures morphology before and after the life test, the method of scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction was applied. During tests it was found that for modified nanostructures an increase in the number of cycles from 344 to 607 and 651 is observed. The increase in the lifetime of the anode material for irradiated samples is due to the removal of stresses and distortions in the crystal lattice, as well as partial annealing of defects as a result of irradiation.