FACILE FABRICATION OF SILICON NANOPARTICLE LITHIUM-ION BATTERY ANODE REINFORCED WITH COPPER NANOPARTICLES

Studies on the Si based lithium-ion battery anode with long cyclic life and reasonable mass loading density has attracted considerable attention from both academia and industry. A new concept has been developed in this work to enhance the electrochemical performance of the Si nanoparticle anode with high mass loading density (> 1 mg cm(-2)). Nano-sized Si and Cu particles are dispersed into a Si/Cu nano-composite by facile ultrasonication. For the first time, it is found that the modulus, hardness, and tensile strength of the Si electrode have been significantly improved by the incorporation of the copper nanoparticles, leading to significantly improved cyclic and rate performance. Particularly, the Si/Cu nanocomposite with the Si/Cu mass ratio of 1.0 exhibits a capacity of 1028 mAhg(-1) after 80 cycles at 0.2 A g(-1), which is more than three times higher than that of the bare silicon (328 mAhg(-1))