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 language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 8689-8694 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Nanoscale |
Volume | 5 |
Issue number | 18 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 21 Sept 2013 |