Mechanical Degradation and Electrochemical Properties Variation in Electrode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

Silicon is a promising anode material for lithium-ion battery application due to its high specific capacity and low cost. However, silicon undergoes a volume expansion of 300~400% full lithiation and suffers from severe capacity fade, which limit its successful application in commercial cells. In situ analyses by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) transmission electron microscopy (TEM) do not allow a detailed analysis of the silicon cracking process, which can significantly depend on the charge/discharge condition. To solve this problem, more thorough understanding of how the material degrades is necessary to help cycling techniques that may be capable of reducing the capacity fading. In this study, we used acoustic emission (AE) method for detecting the volume change in silicon negative electrodes.