April 20, 2012 | Nian Liu, Hui Wu, Matthew T. McDowell, Yan Yao, Chongmin Wang, Yi Cui
This paper presents a novel "yolk-shell" structure for stabilized and scalable silicon (Si) anodes in lithium-ion batteries. The Si nanoparticles (SiNPs) are encapsulated within a conformal, thin, self-supporting carbon shell, with a well-designed void space between the particles and the shell. This design allows the SiNPs to expand freely without breaking the outer carbon shell, stabilizing the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the shell surface. The fabricated Si@void@C electrode exhibits high capacity (~2800 mAh/g at C/10), long cycle life (1000 cycles with 74% capacity retention), and high Coulombic efficiency (99.84%). The fabrication process is scalable and can be carried out at room temperature without special equipment. The yolk-shell structure effectively addresses the challenges of volume expansion and SEI formation, making it a promising candidate for next-generation Li-ion battery anodes.This paper presents a novel "yolk-shell" structure for stabilized and scalable silicon (Si) anodes in lithium-ion batteries. The Si nanoparticles (SiNPs) are encapsulated within a conformal, thin, self-supporting carbon shell, with a well-designed void space between the particles and the shell. This design allows the SiNPs to expand freely without breaking the outer carbon shell, stabilizing the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the shell surface. The fabricated Si@void@C electrode exhibits high capacity (~2800 mAh/g at C/10), long cycle life (1000 cycles with 74% capacity retention), and high Coulombic efficiency (99.84%). The fabrication process is scalable and can be carried out at room temperature without special equipment. The yolk-shell structure effectively addresses the challenges of volume expansion and SEI formation, making it a promising candidate for next-generation Li-ion battery anodes.