Comparison of commercial silicon-based anode materials for the design of a high-energy lithium-ion battery

• Published in: Nano research Vol. 17; no. 6; pp. 5270 - 5277
• Main Authors: Choi, Minhong, Lee, Eunhan, Sung, Jaekyung, Kim, Namhyung, Ko, Minseong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Tsinghua University Press 01.06.2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alternative energy sources; Anodes; Atomic/Molecular Structure and Spectra; Biomedicine; Biotechnology; Chemistry and Materials Science; Comparative studies; Condensed Matter Physics; Cycles; Electrochemical analysis; Electrochemistry; Electrode materials; Graphite; Lithium; Lithium-ion batteries; Materials Science; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Rechargeable batteries; Research Article; Silicon; Stability; high-energy; silicon-based anode; comparison; lithium ion battery; blended electrode
• ISSN: 1998-0124; 1998-0000
• DOI: 10.1007/s12274-024-6512-x

Silicon (Si) is considered a potential alternative anode for next-generation Li-ion batteries owing to its high theoretical capacity and abundance. However, the commercial use of Si anodes is hindered by their large volume expansion (∼ 300%). Numerous efforts have been made to address this issue. Among these efforts, Si-graphite co-utilization has attracted attention as a reasonable alternative for high-energy anodes. A comparative study of representative commercial Si-based materials, such as Si nanoparticles, Si suboxides, and Si–Graphite composites (SiGC), was conducted to characterize their overall performance in high-energy lithium-ion battery (LIB) design by incorporating conventional graphite. Nano-Si was found to exhibit poor electrochemical performance, with severe volume expansion during cycling. Si suboxide provided excellent cycling stability in a full-cell evaluation with stable volume variation after 50 cycles, but had a large irreversible capacity and remarkable volume expansion during the first cycle. SiGC displayed a good initial Coulombic efficiency and the lowest volume change in the first cycle owing to the uniformly distributed nano-Si layer on graphite; however, its long-term cycling stability was relatively poor. To complement each disadvantage of Si suboxide and SiGC, a new combination of these Si-based anodes was suggested and a reasonable improvement in overall battery performance was successfully achieved.