Selective kinetic control of interfacial charge transfer reactions in Si-composite anodes for Li-ion batteries

In this report, we demonstrate a strategy to selectively suppress reactions at unpassivated active material surfaces in silicon composite electrodes, mitigating the capacity-draining effects of continual electrolyte reduction in alloying-type anodes for lithium-ion batteries. Inspired by dipolar modification of electrodes for photovoltaic applications, we introduced conformationally-labile permanent dipoles at the electrochemical electrode interface to dynamically modulate charge transfer kinetics across the interface. Polyacrylic acid (PAA) binder modified with the dipole-bearing molecule 3-cyanopropyltriethoxysilane displays a 17% increase in capacity retention versus unmodified PAA binder. Differential capacity analysis shows a marked cathodic shift of similar to 150 mV in overpotential in the pre-alloying voltage range following the initial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation step. At the same time, we observe negligible shift in overpotential for reversible lithium-ion storage, consistent with selective modulation of irreversible reaction kinetics. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy indicates that this modification results in a thinner SEI layer. Despite the improved performance, the charge transfer resistance of the half-cell is higher with the modification, suggesting some opportunity for improving the strategy. Time-resolved spectroelectrochemical analysis of desolvation kinetics in modified binders indicates that the modified binder has slower and less selective ion transport. We conclude that future iterations of this strategy which avoid disrupting the beneficial ionic transport properties of the binder would result in even greater performance enhancement. We propose that this may be accomplished by incorporating oligomeric dipolar modifiers, either in the binder or at the active material itself. Either way would increase the ratio of dipoles to PAA linking sites, thus avoiding the competing deleterious impacts on device performance. This work demonstrates the first interfacial dipole modification aimed at controlling parasitic reactions at alloying electrodes in Li-ion batteries.