Congratulation for publishin paper in Carbon.
Title: Silicon-Coated Carbon Nanofiber Mat for Anode of Lithium Ion Battery
Authors: Fei Yao,† Bing Li,† Kangpyo So, Jian Chang, Vu Quoc An, Didier Pribat, Costel Sorin Cojocaru, Hongyan Yue, Sishen Xie and Young Hee Lee*
Abstract: Si-coated carbon nanofiber (Si/CNF) mat was fabricated by electrochemical method for the anode of lithium ion battery (LIB). The free-standing CNF mat was first fabricated by electrospinning of polyamic acid followed by stabilization and carbonization, and then the as-prepared CNF mat was used for Si electrodeposition through cyclic voltametry (CV). Spaghetti or granule-like Si was obtained by varying the deposition conditions. This Si/CNF mat was directly used as an anode material, which involves neither binders nor additional metal substrate. The best performance was achieved in spaghetti-like Si with less CV deposition cycles due to its highly porous nature which can accomodate the volume expansion and large surface area which benifits efficient charge transfer of ions at the electrode/electrolyte interface. The optimized Si/CNF mat anode after annealing at 1000 oC delivered initially a capacity of 900 mAh/g and 730 mAh/g after 50 cycles at 0.1 C rate with an average fading rate of 0.34 % per cycle, improving the capacity of pure CNF mat (280 mAh/g at the 50th cycle). Our X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and electrochemical analysis revealed that the formation of Si-C bond through high temperature annealing can enhance the adhesion between silicon and carbon at the interface which benefited the cyclic performance of the anode material ultimately.