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Comparison of commercial silicon-based anode materials for the design of a high-energy lithium-ion battery

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Abstract

Silicon (Si) is considered a potential alternative anode for next-generation Li-ion batteries owing to its high theoretical capacity and abundance. However, the commercial use of Si anodes is hindered by their large volume expansion (∼ 300%). Numerous efforts have been made to address this issue. Among these efforts, Si-graphite co-utilization has attracted attention as a reasonable alternative for high-energy anodes. A comparative study of representative commercial Si-based materials, such as Si nanoparticles, Si suboxides, and Si–Graphite composites (SiGC), was conducted to characterize their overall performance in high-energy lithium-ion battery (LIB) design by incorporating conventional graphite. Nano-Si was found to exhibit poor electrochemical performance, with severe volume expansion during cycling. Si suboxide provided excellent cycling stability in a full-cell evaluation with stable volume variation after 50 cycles, but had a large irreversible capacity and remarkable volume expansion during the first cycle. SiGC displayed a good initial Coulombic efficiency and the lowest volume change in the first cycle owing to the uniformly distributed nano-Si layer on graphite; however, its long-term cycling stability was relatively poor. To complement each disadvantage of Si suboxide and SiGC, a new combination of these Si-based anodes was suggested and a reasonable improvement in overall battery performance was successfully achieved.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Technology Innovation Program (No. 20010542, Development of Petroleum Pitch Based Conductive Material and Binder for Lithium Ion Secondary Battery and Their Application) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE, Republic of Korea) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2021R1A2C1095408).

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  1. Minhong Choi, Eunhan Lee, and Jaekyung Sung contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Convergence Materials Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan, 48547, Republic of Korea

    Minhong Choi, Eunhan Lee & Minseong Ko

  2. Department of Materials Engineering and Convergence Technology, Gyeongsang National University, 501 Jinju-daero, Jinju, 52828, Republic of Korea

    Jaekyung Sung

  3. Department of Materials System Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan, 48547, Republic of Korea

    Namhyung Kim

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  1. Minhong Choi
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Correspondence to Namhyung Kim or Minseong Ko.

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Choi, M., Lee, E., Sung, J. et al. Comparison of commercial silicon-based anode materials for the design of a high-energy lithium-ion battery. Nano Res. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-024-6512-x

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