Electrochemically induced and orientation dependent crack propagation in single crystal silicon

•Stress and strain states are clearly defined for Si wafers during lithiation.•LixSi layer and crystalline Si wafer behave as a thin film composite materials.•Elastic modulus of c-Si under LixSi layer determine the crack propagation behavior.•<111> Si wafer shows distinguished behavior from <100> and <110> Si wafers.

This study reports a direct observation on the crack behavior of lithiated Si wafer. Three different Si wafers with <100>, <110> and <111> axes are investigated, to compare the crack behaviors of different orientation Si wafers. Electrochemically induced cracks in each orientated wafer have dissimilar crack behaviors, because the initiations and propagations of cracks are strongly affected by their orientation and strain energy release rate. It is also found that triangular humps and cracks are formed in the (111) wafer, which are discovered for the first time by in this study. Considering that volume expansion, cracks, and pulverizations of Si are the main issues for the commercial use of Si for Li ion battery, this study provides important insight that is relevant to the design of advanced Si anode materials.