Conductive natural fibers as dual-functional conductive agents: high conductivity and stress relief in silicon-based anodes

Abstract

Substantial expansion/contraction stresses (300%) and poor electrical conductivity (10⁻⁵ to 10⁻³ S cm⁻¹) are two critical issues for silicon based anodes. Recognizing that fibers can dissipate internal stress in bulk electrodes, we integrate a conductive nature-derived fiber to concurrently resolve the two challenges. Carbonized rabbit hair fiber (CRHF) exhibits a significantly higher electrical conductivity (2.924 S cm⁻¹) than the traditional conductive additive Super P (0.701 S cm⁻¹). Upon integration, the nature-derived fiber reinforced electrodes demonstrated a significantly reduced electrode swelling rate: only 48.9% after 100 cycles, in contrast to 169.9% for the traditional Super P conductive agent based electrode. Furthermore, these results highlight the remarkable potential of CRHF as a green and cost-effective conductive agent for lithium-ion batteries.