Solution-Plasma-Mediated Synthesis of Si Nanoparticles for Anode Material of Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Silicon anodes have attracted considerable attention for their use in lithium-ion batteries because of their extremely high theoretical capacity; however, they are prone to extensive volume expansion during lithiation, which causes disintegration and poor cycling stability. In this article, we use two approaches to address this issue, by reducing the size of the Si particles to nanoscale and incorporating them into a carbon composite to help modulate the volume expansion problems. We improve our previous work on the solution-plasma-mediated synthesis of Si nanoparticles (NPs) by adjusting the electrolyte medium to mild buffer solutions rather than strong acids, successfully generating Si-NPs with <10 nm diameters. We then combined these Si-NPs with carbon using MgO-template-assisted sol-gel combustion synthesis, which afforded porous carbon composite materials. Among the preparations, the composite material obtained from the LiCl 0.2 M + H3BO3 0.15 M solution-based Si-NPs exhibited a high reversible capacity of 537 mAh/g after 30 discharge/charge cycles at a current rate of 0.5 A/g. We attribute this increased reversible capacity to the decreased particle size of the Si-NPs. These results clearly show the applicability of this facile and environmentally friendly solution-plasma technique for producing Si-NPs as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries.

Plant-derived silica nanoparticles and composites for biosensors, bioimaging, drug delivery and supercapacitors: a review

“…Various preparation methods are available to synthesize silica nanoparticles, such as microemulsion processing (Finnie et al 2007 ), chemical vapor deposition (Rezaei et al 2014 ), combustion synthesis (Yermekova et al 2010 ), plasma synthesis (Saito et al 2018 ), hydrothermal techniques (Gu et al 2012 ) and sol–gel processing (Prabha et al 2019 ). Major researches efforts have focused on controlling the size and morphology of nanoparticles (Brinker and Scherer 2013 ).…”

Plasma based Synthesis and Modification of Nanomaterials

“…

This Special Issue of Nanomaterials, including nine original research works [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9], is devoted to the application of different atmospheric pressure (APP) and low-pressure (LPP) plasmas for synthesis or modification of various nanomaterials (NMs) of exceptional properties. This is followed by their structural and morphological characterization and further interesting and unique applications in different areas of science and technology.

…”

Plasma-Based Synthesis and Modification of Nanomaterials

“…This Special Issue of Nanomaterials, including nine original research works [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ], is devoted to the application of different atmospheric pressure (APP) and low-pressure (LPP) plasmas for synthesis or modification of various nanomaterials (NMs) of exceptional properties. This is followed by their structural and morphological characterization and further interesting and unique applications in different areas of science and technology.…”

“…Among the discharges and plasmas applied for plasma-mediated synthesis or modification of NMs, the readers can find, for example: impulse plasma in a solution initiated by spark discharge between two metallic electrodes immersed in this solution [ 1 ]; atmospheric pressure plasma jets provided by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) operated in Ar–H 2 [ 2 ] or Ar–O 2 , Ar–N 2 , and Ar–NH 3 [ 5 ] mixtures; atmospheric pressure glow discharges (APGDs) generated in air between solid metallic electrodes and flowing solutions [ 3 , 4 , 6 ]; low-pressure capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) sustained in O 2 or N 2 between two electrodes, one being at the end of a chamber field with ionic liquids or low boiling point solvents [ 7 ]; and contact glow discharge electrolysis (CGDE) [ 8 ] or liquid phase plasma (LPP) [ 9 ], operated in both cases between two electrodes immersed in solutions of different compositions. Plasma-chemical processes and reactions occurring directly in plasmas or at interfacial zones between gaseous phases of these plasmas and liquids led to the fabrication of various metal-, nonmetal- and carbon-based NMs, including bimetallic Pd–Fe nanoparticles (NPs) formed by melting and eroding Pd–Fe electrodes [ 1 ], fructose-functionalized AgNPs [ 3 ], PVP-stabilized PtNPs [ 4 ], and pectin-stabilized AgNPs [ 6 ] (all synthesized by the reduction of appropriate ions of these metals dissolved in solutions), carbon dots (CDs) formed by irradiation of aliphatic acids dispersed in viscous media, SiNPs fabricated by melting and eroding Si electrodes under plasma heat [ 8 ], and nanocomposites supported by Fe 3 O 4 NPs on N-doped activated carbon [ 9 ]. Interestingly, NMs were also synthesized by introducing suspensions of substrates into a plasma torch (suspension-plasma spray, SPS) [ 2 ] to form Co/C, Fe/C, and Co–Fe/C NMs, containing a nanometallic phase in addition to carbide and oxide phases of Co and Fe.…”

“…The morphological, structural, and functional properties of NMs result in their having a wide variety of applications, e.g., as catalysts for the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis of CH 4 from H 2 and CO [ 2 ], antimicrobial agents against different phytopathogenic bacteria [ 3 ], heat conductive media in heat management systems [ 4 ], necrotic agents toward cancerous cells of the human melanoma cell line [ 6 ], fluorescence sensors for detecting and measuring metal ions and flavonoids in solutions [ 7 ], and materials for the production of anodes in lithium-ion batteries [ 8 ] or electrochemical capacitor electrodes [ 9 ].…”