Roll-Pressed Silicon Anodes with High Reversible Volumetric Capacity Achieved by Interfacial Stabilization and Mechanical Strengthening of a Silicon/Graphene Hybrid Assembly

Abstract

Application of Si anodes is hindered by severe capacity fading due to pulverization of Si particles during the large volume changes of Si during charge/discharge and repeated formation of the solid-electrolyte interphase. To address these issues, considerable efforts have been devoted to the development of Si composites with conductive carbons (Si/C composites). However, Si/C composites with high C content inevitably show low volumetric capacity because of low electrode density. For practical applications, the volumetric capacity of a Si/C composite electrode is more important than gravimetric capacity, but volumetric capacity in pressed electrodes is rarely reported. Herein, a novel synthesis strategy is demonstrate for a compact Si nanoparticle/graphene microspherical assembly with interfacial stability and mechanical strength achieved by consecutively formed chemical bonds using 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane and sucrose. The unpressed electrode (density: 0.71 g cm(-3)) shows a reversible specific capacity of 1470 mAh g(-1) with a high initial coulombic efficiency of 83.7% at a current density of 1 C-rate. The corresponding pressed electrode (density: 1.32 g cm(-3)) exhibits high reversible volumetric capacity of 1405 mAh cm(-3) and gravimetric capacity of 1520 mAh g(-1) with a high initial coulombic efficiency of 80.4% and excellent cycling stability of 83% over 100 cycles at 1 C-rate.