Silicon as an anode-active material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has been the focus of research for a long time. Until now, commercialization has been challenging due to the drastic volume changes upon (de-)lithiation. In the last few years, new silicon material concepts have been employed, some of which have recently reached mass production and can be found in their first applications on the market. This work investigates microscale silicon particles, which can be produced cost-effectively and are available on a large scale. A partial lithiation strategy achieves reasonable cycling stability with such a material concept, whereby the crystalline silicon particle is only amorphized to a certain extent, thus maintaining the integrity of the particle during cycling.
The investigation of the amorphization process with respect to the lithiation cutoff potential was analyzed by in-situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) in the first part of this thesis. It enabled an XRD-based quantification of the amorphous phase fraction over the course of extended charge/discharge cycling.
The second part of this thesis focuses on the mechanism of lithium nitrate (LiNO3) as an electrolyte additive in carbonate-based electrolyte systems for silicon-based anodes. The reduction and oxidation reactions are studied on carbon electrodes using on-line electrochemical mass spectrometry (OEMS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). In addition, the cycling stability is examined in coin full-cells using silicon-based anodes and NCM622 cathodes.
With its high specific capacity of 3579 mAh g-1Si, silicon allows for high areal capacities and thin electrode coatings, making it a promising choice for fast-charging applications. The final part of this thesis provides a practical comparison between silicon-based anodes and graphite anodes in terms of their temperature-dependent kinetic charge transfer resistance and ion transport resistance using impedance spectroscopy.
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Silicon as an anode-active material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has been the focus of research for a long time. Until now, commercialization has been challenging due to the drastic volume changes upon (de-)lithiation. In the last few years, new silicon material concepts have been employed, some of which have recently reached mass production and can be found in their first applications on the market. This work investigates microscale silicon particles, which can be produced cost-effectively...
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