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High-performance lithium-ion anodes using a hierarchical bottom-up approach

Nature Materials volume 9, pages 353–358 (2010)Cite this article

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A Corrigendum to this article was published on 19 March 2010

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Abstract

Si-based Li-ion battery anodes have recently received great attention, as they offer specific capacity an order of magnitude beyond that of conventional graphite. The applications of this transformative technology require synthesis routes capable of producing safe and easy-to-handle anode particles with low volume changes and stable performance during battery operation. Herein, we report a large-scale hierarchical bottom-up assembly route for the formation of Si on the nanoscale—containing rigid and robust spheres with irregular channels for rapid access of Li ions into the particle bulk. Large Si volume changes on Li insertion and extraction are accommodated by the particle’s internal porosity. Reversible capacities over five times higher than that of the state-of-the-art anodes (1,950 mA h g−1) and stable performance are attained. The synthesis process is simple, low-cost, safe and broadly applicable, providing new avenues for the rational engineering of electrode materials with enhanced conductivity and power.

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Figure 1: Schematic of Si–C nanocomposite granule formation through hierarchical bottom-up assembly.
Figure 2: Structure of the C–Si nanocomposite synthesized through Si CVD on the annealed carbon black.
Figure 3: Structure of the C–Si nanocomposite spherical granules self-assembled during C CVD on the Si-decorated annealed carbon black.
Figure 4: Electrochemical performance of the C–Si bottom-up-assembled nanocomposite spherical granules.

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  • 19 March 2010

    In the version of this Article originally published, the surname of A. Magasinski was spelled incorrectly. This has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of this Article.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the partial support from NASA through an SBIR grant NNX09CD29P 2008-1. We thank A. Alexeev, I. Luzinov, T. Fuller, B. Zdyrko, I. Barsukov, F. Henry, P. Wu, S. Boukhalfa, W. Lu, J. Benson and S. Gillain for valuable discussions or experimental assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30326, USA

    A. Magasinski, P. Dixon, B. Hertzberg & G. Yushin

  2. Materials Science Center & Materials Science Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA

    A. Kvit

  3. Superior Graphite, Chicago, Illinois 60606, USA

    J. Ayala

  4. Streamline Nanotechnologies Inc., Atlanta, Georgia 30326, USA

    G. Yushin

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  1. A. Magasinski
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Contributions

A.M. carried out experiments, analysed and discussed data and wrote the paper; P.D. carried out experiments; B.H. carried out experiments, discussed data and wrote the paper; A.K. carried out experiments; J.A. discussed data and provided technical support; G.Y. conceived, designed and carried out experiments, analysed and discussed data and wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to G. Yushin.

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Magasinski, A., Dixon, P., Hertzberg, B. et al. High-performance lithium-ion anodes using a hierarchical bottom-up approach. Nature Mater 9, 353–358 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2725

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