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 language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 20914-20921 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of the American Chemical Society |
Volume | 133 |
Issue number | 51 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 28 2011 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Chemistry
- Biochemistry
- Catalysis
- Colloid and Surface Chemistry