Silicon (Si) anodes in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) suffer from huge volume changes that lead to a rapid capacity decrease and short cycle life. A conductive binder can be a key factor to overcome this issue, maintaining continuous electron paths under pulverization of Si. Herein, composites of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) are augmented with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) as a binder for Si anodes, which forms hierarchical structures due to different chain lengths of PEG and PEO. The integration of PEG and PEO imparts higher electrical conductivity (∼40%) and stretchability (∼60%) through densely spread hydrogen bonding and cross-linking, compared to conductive polymer binders with PEO or PEG. Further, a silver nanowire (AgNW) network combined with the polymer binder supplies an effective three-dimensional (3D) electrical path, sufficient void space to buffer the volume changes, and highly adhesive interaction with the current collector. The fabricated Si anode demonstrates a higher specific capacity of 1066 mAh g-1 at 0.8 A g-1 after 100 cycles and improved rate capability.
Keywords: conductive polymers; hierarchical structures; lithium-ion batteries; silicon anodes; silver nanowires.