Electrochemical Properties of Electrode Comprising of Si Nanopowder Inserted in an Enclosed Structure in C-Coated AAO by Using a Facile Method

Si, Sn, Al, Ge, and their compounds are some of the potential candidates for use as anodic materials in Li-ion secondary batteries. Especially, Si is a promising anode material for Li-ion batteries due to the high theoretical capacity of 4200 mAh/g-based on the formation of Li_4.4Si phase. However, the formation of Li_4.4Si induces a large volume expansion in the electrode and leads to a rapid drop in capacity. To overcome this problem many experiments and theoretical efforts have been focused on enhancing structural stability of an Si in electrode. Several methods have been also reported for the fabrication of three-dimensional electrode arrays. In this study, we report an improvement of the cycling performance of an Si-nanopowder-based electrode. Si-nanopowder was inserted and confined on the C-coated anodic aluminum oxide by using a new method. It is confirmed from this study that cycling behavior of the Si-powder electrode can be significantly improved by using the method proposed in this study.