Lithium-ion batteries are widely utilized for a variety of applications, such as consumer electronics and electrical vehicles, due to their large energy densities. Si anodes are of great interest since those have more than five times higher specific capacity compared to traditional carbon anodes. Silicon monoxide (SiOx) is one of the most promising candidates because of its excellent cyclability. One of the remained issues for SiOx is the poor first-cycle Coulombic efficiency, in the range of 50-70%. Although several prelithiation methods have been reported for SiOx electrodes, there are few reports for SiOx powders. We demonstrate a facile prelithiation method by using a catalytic reaction between SiOx powders and lithium metal with naphthalene in ether solutions. The reaction continues until the electrochemical potential of SiOx equals to that of lithium naphthalenide. The catalytic reaction with naphthalene offers the practical implementation of highly scalable prelithiation for active material powders in lithium-ion batteries.

Facile chemical route to prelithiation in silicon monoxide powders for lithium-ion batteries

2019 Fall National Meeting

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