Issue 18, 2013

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

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.

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

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
29 May 2013
Accepted
09 Jul 2013
First published
12 Jul 2013

Nanoscale, 2013,5, 8689-8694

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

Y. Yang, J. Ren, X. Wang, Y. Chui, Q. Wu, X. Chen and W. Zhang, Nanoscale, 2013, 5, 8689 DOI: 10.1039/C3NR02788K

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