Analysis of research progress in improving the performance of silicon-based anode materials for lithium-ion batteries: a combination of nanostructured silicon and silicon-based composites

Abstract

With the development and wide-use of lithium-ion batteries, silicon, due to its high theoretical specific capacity and superior fast charging performance, is being studied intensively and extensively as a new generation of anode materials for the batteries. However, challenges of large volume expansion and poor electrical conductivity has limited the performance and commercial applications of silicon-based anode materials, which is led by pulverization of silicon particles, low initial coulombic efficiency, and unstable solid-electrolyte interphase films. To solve the issues, five main strategies have been proposed correspondingly: nanostructured silicon, silicon-based composites, new binders, new electrolyte additives, and pre-lithiation. Among them, the approaches of nanostructured silicon (0D, 1D, 2D) and silicon-based composites (silicon/carbon, silicon/metal, silicon/transition metal oxide) are practical and effective, thus being explored in depth as the focus of many researches, respectively. After summarizing and analyzing the research progress in enhancing the performance of silicon-based anode materials, it is inferred that the advantages of nanostructured silicon are complementary with those of silicon-based composite materials. Silicon-based nanocomposite materials, as the combination of nanostructured silicon and silicon-based composites, are comparatively more significant and useful than either of those. Therefore, the trend of combining the two strategies to achieve a better improvement is unstoppable.