Silicon algae with carbon topping as thin-film anodes for lithium-ion microbatteries by a two-step facile method

Silicon-based electrodes for Li-ion batteries (LIB) attract much attention because of their high theoretical capacity. However, their large volume change during lithiation results in poor cycling due to mechanical cracking. Moreover, silicon can hardly form a stable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer with common electrolytes. We present a safe, innovative strategy to prepare nanostructured silicon-carbon anodes in a two-step process. The nanoporosity of Si films accommodates the volume expansion while a disordered graphitic C layer on top promotes the formation of a stable SEI. This approach shows its promises: carbon-coated porous silicon anodes perform in a very stable way, reaching the areal capacity of ~175 [mu]Ah cm super(-2), and showing no decay for at least 1000 cycles. With requiring only a two-step deposition process at moderate temperatures, this novel very simple cell concept introduces a promising way to possibly viable up-scaled production of next-generation nanostructured Si anodes for lithium-ion microbatteries.