Surficial structure regulation of SiOx material by high-energy ball milling and wet-alkali chemical reaction for lithium-ion batteries

The inhomogeneous nature of SiO x anode material on the atomic scale directly affects its electrochemical performance . A large irreversible capacity loss at the first cycle severely hinders the applications of SiO x materials in lithium ion batteries . The modification of SiO x by means of high-energy ball-milling and wet alkali chemical reaction can tune the ordering of amorphous silicon and silicon dioxide in SiO x materials, which is beneficial to the activation of nano silicon region and the surficial composition optimization of the lithiated products of SiO x during the first discharge process, and the formed Li 2 SiO 3 phase and the increased O/Si ratio in the surface of SiO x contribute to the improved cyclic performance. This surface regulation approach is quite simple, efficient and suitable for large-scale applications of high-performance SiO x anode material.