Graphene encapsulated and SiC reinforced silicon nanowires as an anode material for lithium ion batteries

Yang Yang, Jian Guo Ren*, Xin Wang, Ying San Chui, Qi Hui Wu, Xianfeng Chen, Wenjun Zhang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Anode materials play a key role in the performance, in particular the capacity and lifetime, of lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Silicon has been demonstrated to be a promising anode material due to its high specific capacity, but pulverization during cycling and formation of an unstable solid-electrolyte interphase limit its cycle life. Herein, we show that anodes consisting of an active silicon nanowire (Si NW), which is surrounded by a uniform graphene shell and comprises silicon carbide nanocrystals, are capable of serving over 500 cycles in half cells at a high lithium storage capacity of 1650 mA h g -1 . In the anodes, the graphene shell provides a highly-conductive path and prevents direct exposure of Si NWs to electrolytes while the SiC nanocrystals may act as a rigid backbone to retain the integrity of the Si NW in its great deformation process caused by repetitive charging-discharging reactions, resulting in a stable cyclability.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)8689-8694
Number of pages6
JournalNanoscale
Volume5
Issue number18
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Sept 2013

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