In this study, silicon–graphite composites were prepared and investigated as anode materials for Li-ion batteries with small amounts of silicon and different binders. The silicon powders were prepared by ball- milling crystalline silicon for 100 h and 200 h.
Silicon-based compounds Silicon (Si) has proven to be a very great and exceptional anode material available for lithium-ion battery technology. Among all the known elements, Si possesses the greatest gravimetric and volumetric capacity and is also available at a very affordable cost. It is relatively abundant in the earth crust.
However, the poor stability of Si requires buffering with graphite particles when used as anodes. Currently, commercial lithium-ion batteries with Si/graphite composite anodes can provide a high energy density and are expected to replace traditional graphite-based batteries.
5. Conclusive summary and perspective Graphite is and will remain to be an essential component of commercial lithium-ion batteries in the near- to mid-term future – either as sole anode active material or in combination with high-capacity compounds such as understoichiometric silicon oxide, silicon–metal alloys, or elemental silicon.
Fig. 1 Illustrative summary of major milestones towards and upon the development of graphite negative electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. Remarkably, despite extensive research efforts on alternative anode materials, 19–25 graphite is still the dominant anode material in commercial LIBs.
Nowadays, with the increasing requirements for battery energy density in diverse industries, the use of silicon anode materials to increase energy density, co-utilization of Si, graphite, new binders, and electrolytes has become a commercially viable method to achieve high energy.