Nanostructured Silicon Anodes for Lithium Ion Rechargeable Batteries

Abstract

Rechargeable lithium ion batteries are integral to today's information-rich, mobile society. Currently they are one of the most popular types of battery used in portable electronics because of their high energy density and flexible design. Despite their increasing use at the present time, there is great continued commercial interest in developing new and improved electrode materials for lithium ion batteries that would lead to dramatically higher energy capacity and longer cycle life. Silicon is one of the most promising anode materials because it has the highest known theoretical charge capacity and is the second most abundant element on earth. However, silicon anodes have limited applications because of the huge volume change associated with the insertion and extraction of lithium. This causes cracking and pulverization of the anode, which leads to a loss of electrical contact and eventual fading of capacity. Nanostructured silicon anodes, as compared to the previously tested silicon film anodes, can help overcome the above issues. As arrays of silicon nanowires or nanorods, which help accommodate the volume changes, or as nanoscale compliant layers, which increase the stress resilience of silicon films, nanoengineered silicon anodes show potential to enable a new generation of lithium ion batteries with significantly higher reversible charge capacity and longer cycle life.

Pulsed laser deposited Cr2O3 nanostructured thin film on graphene as anode material for lithium-ion batteries

“…Rechargeable lithium ion batteries are integral to the portable, entertainment, computing, and telecommunication equipment required by today's information-rich, mobile society [1]. They are currently one of the most popular types of battery for portable electronic devices due to their light weight, high energy density, high power, smooth discharge, and being environment friendly [2].…”

Si@SiOx/Graphene Nanosheets Composite: Ball Milling Synthesis and Enhanced Lithium Storage Performance

“…In recent years, lots of efforts have been put in exploring anode materials with higher specific capacities over graphite. Silicon-based materials have attracted considerable research attentions as one of the most promising anode materials for lithium-ion batteries because of its highest theoretical capacity (4,200 mAh g −1 ) during the formation of Li4.4Si alloys (Netz and Huggins, 2004;Chan et al, 2008;Teki et al, 2009;Winter et al, 2010;Ji et al, 2011;Yue et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2015). However, the huge volume changes during lithiation and de-lithiation process always leads to poor cycle performance and electrical contact, which severely hinders the industrial applications of silicon-based anode materials (Candace et al, 2009;Hertzberg et al, 2010;Bo et al, 2016;Li et al, 2016Li et al, , 2017.…”

Structural, compositional and electrochemical properties of Aluminium-Silicon-Chromium alloy thin film as anode for Lithium thin film battery

“…It is already known that as a naturally abundant element, Si has the highest theoretical specific capacity among all exiting anodes, which can reach 4200 mAh/g in the form of Li 4.4 Si [11][12][13][14][15][16]. Unfortunately, its potential in broad commercial applications has been hindered by severe capacity fading and loss of electrical contact caused by huge volume change, structural crumbling and cracking during repeated charging/discharging, especially at high currents .It could be overcome by using a multiple-layer thin comprising a silicon (Si) layer and a transition metal (M) layer [17][18].…”