Silicon Decorated Cone Shaped Carbon Nanotube Clusters for Lithium Ion Battery Anodes

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Vol. 10; no. 16; pp. 3389 - 3396
• Main Authors: Wang, Wei, Ruiz, Isaac, Ahmed, Kazi, Bay, Hamed Hosseini, George, Aaron S., Wang, Johnny, Butler, John, Ozkan, Mihrimah, Ozkan, Cengiz S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Blackwell Publishing Ltd 27.08.2014
• Subjects: anode; CNT; energy storage; lithium ion battery; silicon; CNT; anode; silicon; energy storage; lithium ion battery
• ISSN: 1613-6810; 1613-6829
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.201400088

In this work, we report the synthesis of an three‐dimensional (3D) cone‐shape CNT clusters (CCC) via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with subsequent inductively coupled plasma (ICP) treatment. An innovative silicon decorated cone‐shape CNT clusters (SCCC) is prepared by simply depositing amorphous silicon onto CCC via magnetron sputtering. The seamless connection between silicon decorated CNT cones and graphene facilitates the charge transfer in the system and suggests a binder‐free technique of preparing lithium ion battery (LIB) anodes. Lithium ion batteries based on this novel 3D SCCC architecture demonstrates high reversible capacity of 1954 mAh g−1 and excellent cycling stability (>1200 mAh g−1 capacity with ≈100% coulombic efficiency after 230 cycles). A three dimensional cone shaped CNT clusters (CCC) structure is prepared via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) with subsequent inductively coupled plasma (ICP) treatment. Silicon decorated cone shaped CNT clusters (SCCC) is prepared by depositing amorphous silicon onto CCC via magnetron sputtering. Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) based on 3D SCCC architecture demonstrates high reversible capacity and excellent cycling stability. The cone shaped nature of the SCCC architecture offers small interpenetrating channels for faster electrolyte access into the electrode which enhances the rate performance.