A strategy to overcome the limits of carbon-based materials as lithium-ion battery anodes

The free-standing Si-coated carbon nanofiber (Si/CNF) mat was fabricated for the anode of lithium ion battery through combining electrospun CNF mat with electrodeposited Si layer. Spaghetti or granule-like Si was obtained by varying the deposition conditions. This Si/CNF mat was directly used as an active material and a current collector as well, which involves neither binders nor additional metal substrate. The best performance was achieved in spaghetti-like Si due to its highly porous nature which can accommodate volume expansion and large surface area which benefit the efficient charge transfer both at Si/CNF interface and at the electrode/electrolyte interface. The optimized Si/CNF mat after annealing at 1000 °C delivered a capacity of 870 mA h g−1 at 1st discharge and 730 mA h g−1 at 50th discharge with a capacity retention of 84%, improving the capacity of pure CNF (280 mA h g−1 at the 50th discharge) by almost three times. In addition, corrosion of the current collector no longer exists in our approach. Our X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and electrochemical analysis revealed that the formation of Si-C bond through high temperature annealing can enhance the adhesion between silicon and carbon at the interface which benefits the cyclic performance of anode ultimately.