Compositionally graded SiCu thin film anode by magnetron sputtering for lithium ion battery

Abstract

Compositionally graded and non-graded composite SiCu thin films were deposited by magnetron sputtering technique on Cu disks for investigation of their potentials in lithium ion battery applications. The compositionally graded thin film electrodes with 30at.% Cu delivered a 1400mAhg−1 capacity with 80% Coulombic efficiency in the first cycle and still retained its capacity at around 600mAhg−1 (with 99.9% Coulombic efficiency) even after 100cycles. On the other hand, the non-graded thin film electrodes with 30at.% Cu exhibited 1100mAhg−1 as the first discharge capacity with 78% Coulombic efficiency but the cycle life of this film degraded very quickly, delivering only 250mAhg−1 capacity after 100th cycles. Not only the Cu content but also the graded film thickness were believed to be the main contributors to the much superior performance of the compositionally graded SiCu films. We also believe that the Cu-rich region of the graded film helped reduce internal stress build-up and thus prevented film delamination during cycling. In particular, the decrease of Cu content from interface region to the top of the coating reduced the possibility of stress build-up across the film during cycling, thus leading to a high electrochemical performance.b