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Self-healing chemistry enables the stable operation of silicon microparticle anodes for high-energy lithium-ion batteries

Nature Chemistry volume 5, pages 1042–1048 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

The ability to repair damage spontaneously, which is termed self-healing, is an important survival feature in nature because it increases the lifetime of most living creatures. This feature is highly desirable for rechargeable batteries because the lifetime of high-capacity electrodes, such as silicon anodes, is shortened by mechanical fractures generated during the cycling process. Here, inspired by nature, we apply self-healing chemistry to silicon microparticle (SiMP) anodes to overcome their short cycle-life. We show that anodes made from low-cost SiMPs (~3–8 µm), for which stable deep galvanostatic cycling was previously impossible, can now have an excellent cycle life when coated with a self-healing polymer. We attain a cycle life ten times longer than state-of-art anodes made from SiMPs and still retain a high capacity (up to ~3,000 mA h g−1). Cracks and damage in the coating during cycling can be healed spontaneously by the randomly branched hydrogen-bonding polymer used.

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Figure 1: Design and structure of the self-healing electrode.
Figure 2: Characterization of the self-healing composite material.
Figure 3: Electrochemical properties of SiMP electrodes.
Figure 4: Cycling properties of the self-healing SiMP electrode.
Figure 5: Structure of the self-healing SiMP electrode during electrochemical cycling.

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Acknowledgements

Y.C. and Z.B. acknowledge funding support from the Department of Energy, through the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory LDRD project, under contract DE-AC02-76SF00515, and from the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University.

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Author notes

  1. Chao Wang and Hui Wu: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, California, 94305, USA

    Chao Wang, Zheng Chen & Zhenan Bao

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, California, 94305, USA

    Hui Wu, Matthew T. McDowell & Yi Cui

  3. State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Hui Wu

  4. Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California, 94205, USA

    Yi Cui

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  1. Chao Wang
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Contributions

C.W., H.W., Y.C. and Z.B. conceived and designed the experiments. Y.C. and Z.B. directed the project. C.W. prepared the self-healing materials. H.W. and Z.C. performed the battery assembly and characterization experiments. All authors discussed and analysed the data. C.W., H.W. and M.T.M. co-wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yi Cui or Zhenan Bao.

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Wang, C., Wu, H., Chen, Z. et al. Self-healing chemistry enables the stable operation of silicon microparticle anodes for high-energy lithium-ion batteries. Nature Chem 5, 1042–1048 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.1802

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