Evidence of covalent synergy in silicon–sulfur–graphene yielding highly efficient and long-life lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

Silicon has the potential to revolutionize the energy storage capacities of lithium-ion batteries to meet the ever increasing power demands of next generation technologies. To avoid the operational stability problems of silicon-based anodes, we propose synergistic physicochemical alteration of electrode structures during their design. This capitalizes on covalent interaction of Si nanoparticles with sulfur-doped graphene and with cyclized polyacrylonitrile to provide a robust nanoarchitecture. This hierarchical structure stabilized the solid electrolyte interphase leading to superior reversible capacity of over 1,000 mAh g−1 for 2,275 cycles at 2 A g−1. Furthermore, the nanoarchitectured design lowered the contact of the electrolyte to the electrode leading to not only high coulombic efficiency of 99.9% but also maintaining high stability even with high electrode loading associated with 3.4 mAh cm−2. The excellent performance combined with the simplistic, scalable and non-hazardous approach render the process as a very promising candidate for Li-ion battery technology.

SiO2/Carbon Composite Microspheres with Hollow Core–Shell Structure as a High‐Stability Electrode for Lithium‐Ion Batteries

“…As illustrated in Figure (a), four peaks around 532 eV, 285 eV, 155 eV and 103 eV are observed in XPS wide scan spectrum of the SiO 2 /po‐C@C composite material, which are ascribed to O 1 s, C 1 s, Si 2 s and Si 2p peaks, respectively. Obviously, the signals of Si are weaker than other elements because the Si is coated into the inner of the SiO 2 /po‐C@C and XPS provides the surface elemental information of the material . Furthermore, high‐resolution XPS spectra of C 1 s, O 1 s and Si 2p were demonstrated in Figure (b–d).…”

Zn(Cu)Si2+xP3 Solid Solution Anodes for High‐Performance Li‐Ion Batteries with Tunable Working Potentials

“…As shown in Figure 4e, the Coulombic efficiency remains at ≈100% after 500 cycles at a current density of 300 mA g −1 while maintaining ≈80.5% of the initial discharge capacity (at 1955 mAh g −1 ). Notably, the Li-storage performance of the ZnSi 2 P 3 /C nanocomposite is superior to most reported P-and Si-based anodes [2,3,6,8,9,11,19,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50] in terms of initial Coulombic efficiency and cycling stability (Figure 4g). Notably, the Li-storage performance of the ZnSi 2 P 3 /C nanocomposite is superior to most reported P-and Si-based anodes [2,3,6,8,9,11,19,[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43]…”

Recent Advances in Growth and Modification of Graphene‐Based Energy Materials: From Chemical Vapor Deposition to Reduction of Graphene Oxide

“…After 500 cycles, the reversible capacity boosted to as high as 1346 mAh g −1 . Similarly, the sulfur‐doped rGO had the function of fixing active materials during lithiation and delithiation . Afterward, the encapsulation effect further limits the separation of active substances from rGO, Zhu et al fabricated the composite that SnO 2 quantum‐dot (QD) clusters were wrapped by rGO sheets .…”