A facile room temperature chemical transformation approach for binder-free thin film formation of AgTe 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 AgTe thin films on desired substrates at room temperature using ion exchange induced chemical transformation of Ag/AgO 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 AgTe films show a highly crystalline nature even without thermal treatment. Furthermore, the electrochemistry for lithiation/delithiation of the AgTe 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 AgTe electrode for Li storage is found to be about two and half fold larger than the theoretical capacity of the AgTe material. This implies that the binder-free AgTe film prepared by the current method could find a potential application in the Li-ion or other similar charge storing devices.