Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 7-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

A pomegranate-inspired nanoscale design for large-volume-change lithium battery anodes

A pomegranate-inspired nanoscale design for large-volume-change lithium battery anodes Silicon is an attractive material for anodes in energy storage devices 1,2,3 , because it has ten times the theoretical capacity of its state-of-the-art carbonaceous counterpart. Silicon anodes can be used both in traditional lithium-ion batteries and in more recent Li–O2 and Li–S batteries as a replacement for the dendrite-forming lithium metal anodes. The main challenges associated with silicon anodes are structural degradation and instability of the solid-electrolyte interphase caused by the large volume change (∼300%) during cycling, the occurrence of side reactions with the electrolyte, and the low volumetric capacity when the material size is reduced to a nanometre scale 4,5,6,7 . Here, we propose a hierarchical structured silicon anode that tackles all three of these problems. Our design is inspired by the structure of a pomegranate, where single silicon nanoparticles are encapsulated by a conductive carbon layer that leaves enough room for expansion and contraction following lithiation and delithiation. An ensemble of these hybrid nanoparticles is then encapsulated by a thicker carbon layer in micrometre-size pouches to act as an electrolyte barrier. As a result of this hierarchical arrangement, the solid-electrolyte interphase remains stable and spatially confined, resulting in superior cyclability (97% capacity retention after 1,000 cycles). In addition, the microstructures lower the electrode–electrolyte contact area, resulting in high Coulombic efficiency (99.87%) and volumetric capacity (1,270 mAh cm−3), and the cycling remains stable even when the areal capacity is increased to the level of commercial lithium-ion batteries (3.7 mAh cm−2). http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Nature Nanotechnology Springer Journals

A pomegranate-inspired nanoscale design for large-volume-change lithium battery anodes

Download PDF
6 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/springer-journals/a-pomegranate-inspired-nanoscale-design-for-large-volume-change-nyqaZ6XSLp

References (33)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2014 by Nature Publishing Group
Subject
Materials Science; Materials Science, general; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering
ISSN
1748-3387
eISSN
1748-3395
DOI
10.1038/nnano.2014.6
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Silicon is an attractive material for anodes in energy storage devices 1,2,3 , because it has ten times the theoretical capacity of its state-of-the-art carbonaceous counterpart. Silicon anodes can be used both in traditional lithium-ion batteries and in more recent Li–O2 and Li–S batteries as a replacement for the dendrite-forming lithium metal anodes. The main challenges associated with silicon anodes are structural degradation and instability of the solid-electrolyte interphase caused by the large volume change (∼300%) during cycling, the occurrence of side reactions with the electrolyte, and the low volumetric capacity when the material size is reduced to a nanometre scale 4,5,6,7 . Here, we propose a hierarchical structured silicon anode that tackles all three of these problems. Our design is inspired by the structure of a pomegranate, where single silicon nanoparticles are encapsulated by a conductive carbon layer that leaves enough room for expansion and contraction following lithiation and delithiation. An ensemble of these hybrid nanoparticles is then encapsulated by a thicker carbon layer in micrometre-size pouches to act as an electrolyte barrier. As a result of this hierarchical arrangement, the solid-electrolyte interphase remains stable and spatially confined, resulting in superior cyclability (97% capacity retention after 1,000 cycles). In addition, the microstructures lower the electrode–electrolyte contact area, resulting in high Coulombic efficiency (99.87%) and volumetric capacity (1,270 mAh cm−3), and the cycling remains stable even when the areal capacity is increased to the level of commercial lithium-ion batteries (3.7 mAh cm−2).

Journal

Nature Nanotechnology – Springer Journals

Published: Feb 16, 2014

There are no references for this article.