Silicon-based anode materials with three-dimensional conductive network for high-performance lithium ion batteries

Silicon (Si) is expected to replace graphite as the next generation anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, Si has a low electron conductivity and large volume changing during the lithiation/delithiation process, which limits the commercialisation of the Si anode. In this paper, micron whisker carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and graphene oxides (GO) were used to construct a three-dimensional conductive network to improve the electrochemical performance of the Si anode. The study found that GO and MWCNTs can greatly improve the performance of Si-based anode. Among them, 5% GO/Si composite exhibited the highest charge capacity retention of 92.3%, maintains a capacity of 520.9 mAh/g (contribution of micron Si is about 3388 mAh/g) after 10 cycles.