Microstructures and electrochemical properties of Si-Ni based alloys fabricated by melt spinning process

In this work, Si-Ni-Al and Si-Ni-Cu-Al alloy ribbons were fabricated by melt spinning process to minimize the effect of the volume change of silicon particles. Si52Ni41Al7 and Si50Ni25Cu15Al10 alloy ribbons by atomic ratio were prepared by arc-melting followed by melt spinning process. The melt spun ribbons were fragmented to produce powder. Subsequently, acetylene black (AB), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and N-methylpyrrolidinone (NMP, 7cc) were added into the alloy powder and mixed by planetary milling for 2 hours. The electrochemical properties of the cells were measured at 100 mAh/g current density between 0.01 and 2.0V. Microstructural evaluation and phase analysis were conducted by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) combined with energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS).