Flexible and robust silicon/carbon nanotube anodes exhibiting high areal capacities

Chong Xie; Na Xu; Peiyi Shi; Yixuan Lv; Hirbod Maleki Kheimeh Sari; Jian-Wen Shi; Wei Xiao; Jian Qin; Huijuan Yang; Wenbin Li; Jingjing Wang; Junhua Hu; Xueliang Sun; Xifei Li

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.082

Flexible and robust silicon/carbon nanotube anodes exhibiting high areal capacities

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 Nov:625:871-878. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.082. Epub 2022 Jun 23.

Authors

Chong Xie¹, Na Xu¹, Peiyi Shi¹, Yixuan Lv², Hirbod Maleki Kheimeh Sari¹, Jian-Wen Shi³, Wei Xiao¹, Jian Qin¹, Huijuan Yang¹, Wenbin Li¹, Jingjing Wang¹, Junhua Hu⁴, Xueliang Sun⁵, Xifei Li⁶

Affiliations

¹ Xi'an Key Laboratory of New Energy Materials and Devices, Institute of Advanced Electrochemical Energy, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710048, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Center of Nanomaterials for Renewable Energy, School of Electrical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Center of Nanomaterials for Renewable Energy, School of Electrical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China. Electronic address: jianwen.shi@xjtu.edu.cn.
⁴ Center for International Cooperation on Designer Low-carbon & Environmental Materials (CDLCEM), Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450001, China.
⁵ Xi'an Key Laboratory of New Energy Materials and Devices, Institute of Advanced Electrochemical Energy, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710048, China; Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B9, Canada. Electronic address: xsun9@uwo.ca.
⁶ Xi'an Key Laboratory of New Energy Materials and Devices, Institute of Advanced Electrochemical Energy, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, Shaanxi 710048, China. Electronic address: xfli2011@hotmail.com.

PMID: 35777094
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.06.082

Abstract

The fast development of flexible devices has greatly boosted the demands for flexible lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Accordingly, a broad exploration of flexible electrodes in LIBs is crucial. At present, the major challenge in the flexible electrode for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is how to achieve an excellent electrochemical performance (particularly high-energy density) while maintaining superior mechanical flexibility. Herein, flexible silicon/carbon nanotube (Si/CNT) electrode is prepared via a common blade-coating, which is adoptable to large-scale production. The CNT network from monodispersed CNT solution endows the electrode with superior tensile strength and mechanical toughness. The tensile strength of the flexible electrodes is up to 3.75 MPa, and the corresponding strain at break is 43.9%. The flexible electrode delivers an areal capacity of 10.6 mAh cm^-2 at 0.06 mA cm^-2, which is completely meet the practical requirement (1-3 mAh cm^-2). And a high reversible capacity of 5.64 mAh cm^-2 can be retained at 0.3 mA cm^-2 after 200 cycles. In addition, the pouch cell exhibits a promising cycling stability under the repeated deformation state. Moreover, this work also provides a feasible and scalable method to fabricate flexible electrodes for other wearable energy storage systems.

Keywords: Anode; Areal capacity; Carbon nanotube; Flexible; Silicon.