Silicon nanowire fabric as a lithium ion battery electrode material

Aaron Michael Chockla, Justin T. Harris, Vahid A. Akhavan, Timothy D. Bogart, Vincent C. Holmberg, Chet Steinhagen, C. Buddie Mullins, Keith J. Stevenson, Brian A. Korgel*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

260 Scopus citations

Abstract

A nonwoven fabric with paperlike qualities composed of silicon nanowires is reported. The nanowires, made by the supercritical-fluid-liquid-solid process, are crystalline, range in diameter from 10 to 50 nm with an average length of >100 μm, and are coated with a thin chemisorbed polyphenylsilane shell. About 90% of the nanowire fabric volume is void space. Thermal annealing of the nanowire fabric in a reducing environment converts the polyphenylsilane coating to a carbonaceous layer that significantly increases the electrical conductivity of the material. This makes the nanowire fabric useful as a self-supporting, mechanically flexible, high-energy-storage anode material in a lithium ion battery. Anode capacities of more than 800 mA h g -1 were achieved without the addition of conductive carbon or binder.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)20914-20921
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of the American Chemical Society
Volume133
Issue number51
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 28 2011

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • Biochemistry
  • Catalysis
  • Colloid and Surface Chemistry

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