A silica/carbon composite as anode for lithium-ion batteries with a large rate capability: Experiment and theoretical considerations

LENER, G.; GARCIA-BLANCO, A.A.; FURLONG, O.; NAZZARRO, M.; SAPAG, K.; BARRACO, D.E.; LEIVA, E.P.M.

ELECTROCHIMICA ACTA

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Año: 2018 vol. 279 p. 289 - 300

0013-4686

New generations of materials are necessary to provide practical and economical solutions for electrode fabrication in lithium ion batteries. To this end, in the present work we propose a negative electrode based on a SiO2/C interconnected composite able to charge/discharge at high current regimes while maintaining a very good capacity. In order to have a better understanding of the phenomena that occur in the charge/discharge process, we combined experimental techniques (XPS, DRX, EIS, etc.) with theoretical calculations based on DFT to obtain the thermodynamics of the formation of the reaction products as a function of the cell potential. These results were combined with our experiments and results from the literature to demonstrate the different reactions that could occur. The present material provides a superior performance compared with analogous materials from the literature and may thus be an important tool for obtaining practical solutions in both stationary and mobile electrical devices.