JSS FOCUS ISSUE ON NANOCARBONS FOR ENERGY HARVESTING AND STORAGE Nano-Silicon Containing Composite Graphitic Anodes with Improved Cycling Stability for Application in High Energy Lithium-Ion Batteries

Thedevelopmentofaffordableandsafelithium-ionbatteries(LIB)whichfeaturehighstoragecapacityrepresentsoneoftheprioritystrategies toward further introduction of green technologies in our everyday life. This paper presents a study into the candidatecomposite anodes for high energy LIB; these utilize reversible high storage capacity of ions of lithium in the form of alloys ofthe latter with nano-sized silicon, imbedded in a soft-carbon matrix, which in turn, are deposited on a robust graphitic core. Thesestructures allow an efficient contact between the constituents to be realized at the same time providing space for Si nano-particlesduring lithiation/de-lithiation process. The synthetic route described herein has a high potential for a cost-effective scale-up with thebattery materials industry. Presented results demonstrate feasibility for creation of new active materials for the negative electrodesin LIB, which feature the storage capacity up to 700 mAh g