Comparative Study of Different Silicon/Carbon Nanocomposites as Anode Electrodes for Li-Ion Batteries

Silicon is an extensively examined anode material for use in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to its high theoretical capacity and low working potential. However, silicon charge storage reactions with Li+ suffer from low conductivity and substantial volume changes during repeated electrode reactions. One established way to overcome these problems is by preparing a silicon composite with carbon materials for structural support. Here, we report the simple synthesis of different silicon/carbon hybrid composites, which are silicon nanoparticle aggregates within a carbon matrix. We have chosen acetylene black, super-p, and ketjen black as carbon sources. The synthesized composites work well as anode materials for LIBs. Comparatively, the nano silicon-carbon composite obtained from ketjen black carbon demonstrates an excellent discharge capacity of 4,000 mAh.g(-1) at 0.1 C, and good rate capability of 1,100 mAh.g(-1) at a 2 C rate.