A Scalable Furnace Technique to Grow Silicon Nanoparticles for High-Performance Li-Ion Battery Anodes
Rohan Patil
Mid Sweden University
Silicon has the potential to increase the storage capacity of Lithium-ion battery (LIB). Silicon does however expand and contract during lithiation and delithiation, leading to cracks which deteriorates the performance. Mechanical cracking can be avoided by using silicon nanoparticles. In this work, a novel scalable furnace technique to create silicon nanoparticles attached to graphite flakes for LIB anode is presented, utilizing silicon micro powder and PVA. Thermal gravitometry coupled to mass spectrometry was used to study how silicon powder can be converted to Si NPs by furnace technique. The result show that Si NPs are formed via gasification and condensation that involves the intrinsic formation of precursor gas. The furnace technique was tailored to allow Si Np to grow on graphite surface inside the furnace. The resulting electrode is thereby formed in-situ in the furnace. The anode, when tested in a half cell assembly shows a capacity that is higher than graphite electrodes.