Carbon/silicon composite materials are a promising anode substrate for use in lithium-ion batteries. In this study, we suggest a new architecture for a composite electrode made of a woven-like carbon material decorated with silicon nanoparticles. The 3D woven-like carbon (WLC) structure was fabricated using direct carbonization of multi-beam interference lithography polymer patterns. Subsequent solution coating was applied to decorate the WLC with silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs). The SiNP/WLC electrode exhibited a specific capacity of 930 mAh g(-1) , which is three times higher than the specific capacity of the bare electrode. Specifically, the SiNP/WLC electrode exhibited an outstanding retention capacity of 81 % after 50 cycles and a Coulombic efficiency of more than 98 %. This rate capability performance was attributed to the WLC structure and the uniform decoration of the SiNPs.
Keywords: batteries; composites; energy storage; lithography; patterning.
© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.