Battery Boost: Lithium-Ion Anode Uses Self-Assembled Nanocomposite Materials to Increase Capacity

ScienceDaily — A new high-performance anode structure based on silicon-carbon nanocomposite materials could significantly improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries used in a wide range of applications from hybrid vehicles to portable electronics.

Produced with a “bottom-up” self-assembly technique, more about the new structure takes advantage of nanotechnology to fine-tune its materials properties, click addressing the shortcomings of earlier silicon-based battery anodes. The simple, low-cost fabrication technique was designed to be easily scaled up and compatible with existing battery manufacturing.

Details of the new self-assembly approach were published online in the journal Nature Materials on March 14.

“Development of a novel approach to producing hierarchical anode or cathode particles with controlled properties opens the door to many new directions for lithium-ion battery technology,” said Gleb Yushin, an assistant professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “This is a significant step toward commercial production of silicon-based anode materials for lithium-ion batteries.”

The popular and lightweight batteries work by transferring lithium ions between two electrodes — a cathode and an anode — through a liquid electrolyte. The more efficiently the lithium ions can enter the two electrodes during charge and discharge cycles, the larger the battery’s capacity will be.

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