Interconnected silicon hollow nanospheres for lithium-ion battery anodes with long cycle life

Nano Lett. 2011 Jul 13;11(7):2949-54. doi: 10.1021/nl201470j. Epub 2011 Jun 14.

Abstract

Silicon is a promising candidate for the anode material in lithium-ion batteries due to its high theoretical specific capacity. However, volume changes during cycling cause pulverization and capacity fade, and improving cycle life is a major research challenge. Here, we report a novel interconnected Si hollow nanosphere electrode that is capable of accommodating large volume changes without pulverization during cycling. We achieved the high initial discharge capacity of 2725 mAh g(-1) with less than 8% capacity degradation every hundred cycles for 700 total cycles. Si hollow sphere electrodes also show a Coulombic efficiency of 99.5% in later cycles. Superior rate capability is demonstrated and attributed to fast lithium diffusion in the interconnected Si hollow structure.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Diffusion
  • Electric Power Supplies*
  • Electrodes
  • Ions / chemistry
  • Lithium / chemistry*
  • Nanospheres / chemistry*
  • Nanotechnology
  • Particle Size
  • Silicon / chemistry*
  • Surface Properties

Substances

  • Ions
  • Lithium
  • Silicon