In Situ Constructing of Rigid-Soft Coupling Solid-Electrolyte Interphase on Silicon Electrode toward High-Performance Lithium Ion Batteries

The application of Si anodes is hindered by some critical issues such as large volume changes of bare Si and fragile solid-electrolyte interface (SEI), resulting in low coulombic efficiency and rapid capacity decay. Herein, a multifunctional SEI film with high content of LiF is in situ constructed via the surface grafting of carbon-fluorine functionalized groups on silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) during cycling. Mechanical study demonstrates that the incorporation of LiF with high modulus and unbroken carbon-fluorine groups with highly elastic guarantee the rigid-soft coupling SEI film on Si electrode. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the rigid-soft coupling SEI film can effectively accommodate the volume expansion of Si nanoparticles during lithiation process, with the electrode expanding rate of only 114.16% after 100 cycles (263.87% for bare Si without surface modification). Afterward, with the aid of well-designed rigid-soft coupling SEI, the initial Coulomb efficiency of 89.8% is achieved, showing a reversible capacity of 1477 mAh g(-1) after 200 cycles at 1.2 A g(-1). This work provides a simple and efficient solution that can potentially facilitate the practical application of Si anodes.

Automated summary

By introducing carbon-fluorine functionalized groups with high content of LiF on the surface of Si nanoparticles, a multifunctional SEI film is constructed, which addresses the issues of volume changes and fragility of SEI in bare Si anodes. This results in improved coulombic efficiency and reduced capacity decay.