Two Birds with One Stone: Micro/Nanostructured SiOxCy Composites for Stable Li-Ion and Li Metal Anodes

Developing stable silicon-based and lithium metal anodes still faces many challenges. Designing new highly practical silicon-based anodes with low-volume expansion and high electrical conductivity, and inhibiting lithium dendrite growth are avenues for developing silicon-based and lithium metal anodes, respectively. In this study, SiOxCy microtubes are synthesized using a chemical vapor deposition method. As Li-ion battery anodes, the as-prepared SiOxCy not only combines the advantages of nanomaterials and the practical properties of micromaterials, but also exhibits high initial Coulombic efficiency (80.3%), low volume fluctuations (20.4%), and high cyclability (98% capacity retention after 1000 cycles). Furthermore, SiOxCy, as a lithium deposition substrate, can effectively promote the uniform deposition of metallic lithium. As a result, low nucleation overpotential (only 6.0 mV) and high Coulombic efficiency (& AP;98.9% after 650 cycles, 1.0 mA cm(-2) and 1.0 mAh cm(-2)) are obtained on half cells, as well as small voltage hysteresis (only 9.5 mV, at 1.0 mA cm(-2)) on symmetric cells based on SiOxCy. Full batteries based on both SiOxCy and SiOxCy@Li anodes demonstrate great practicality. This work provides a new perspective for the simultaneous development of practical SiOxCy and dendrite-free lithium metal anodes.