Abstract
The Si-Sb-ZnO composites were prepared by a chemical reduction-mechanical alloying method and were employed as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. The electrochemical performance of the Si-Sb alloy was significantly improved by the addition of ZnO nanoparticles. Especially, the initial specific charge and discharge capacities for Si-Sb-(ZnO)0.3 composite were 845.1 and 1301.5 mAh/g, respectively, while the initial coulombic efficiency was 64.9 %. The capacity remained at 690 mAh/g after 200 cycles, and the capacity retention ratio was 81.6 %, which demonstrated excellent cycling stability and rate capability of the composite materials.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s11671-015-1128-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Lithium-ion batteries are promising energy storage systems for the rapid growing field of hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles due to their high energy density and long cycle life, etc [1,2,3]
Electrochemical Characterizations To evaluate their electrochemical properties, 70 wt.% of active materials, 15 wt.% of acetylene black and 15 wt.% of carboxyl methyl cellulose (CMC), and styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) were mixed to form slurry, which was pressed onto a copper grid as electrodes and dried at 120 °C for 10 h under vacuum
The diffraction patterns of the composites consist of Si, Sb, and Zinc oxide (ZnO) peaks, indicating that there is no intermetallic compound formed in the synthesis process
Summary
Lithium-ion batteries are promising energy storage systems for the rapid growing field of hybrid electric vehicles and electric vehicles due to their high energy density and long cycle life, etc [1,2,3]. Silicon (Si) is an ideal anode material for lithium-ion battery owing to its ultrahigh specific capacity of ~4200 mAh/g, low discharging potential, and safety. Poor electrical conductivity and the huge volume change during lithium-ion insertion/extraction processes are two critical obstacles for Si-based anode materials [4, 5]. The immiscible Si-Sb alloy was synthesized and demonstrated moderate electrochemical and cycling performance with a reversible capacity of 596.4 mAh/g [18]. The Si-based alloy particles lose electrical contact with each other because of the huge volume expansion during charge/discharge processes. Improving the cycling stability as well as maintaining the high capacity has been an attractive research area in Si-based anode materials
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