Carbonaceous Materials Containing Silicon as Anodes for Lithium-Ion Cells

Abstract

ABSTRACTGraphite and pregraphitic carbons capable of reversibly reacting with lithium ions are hosts commonly used in Li-ion cells. As a continuation of previous work, we have used chemical vapour deposition of benzene and silicon-containing precursors to prepare carbons containing nanodispersed silicon. The silicon resides within the unorganized regions in the pregraphitic carbons. These materials reversibly react with lithium in electrochemical cells and the reversible specific capacity has been known to increase from -300 mAhg−1, in the absence of silicon, to near 500 mAhg−1 as silicon is added. We also report on Si-O-C materials which have been shown to reversibly react with Li in electrochemical cells with reversible specific capacities as high as 770mAhg−1. These materials have been made by thermal pyrolysis of siloxane polymers and epoxy-silane composites prepared from hardened mixtures of epoxy novolac resin and epoxy-functional silane. These materials all show promise for use as anode materials in advanced rechargeable lithium batteries.