Amorphous/ordered dual carbon coated silicon nanoparticles as anode to enhance cycle performance in lithium ion batteries

Carbon-coated layer on silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) can improve the conductivity of SiNPs and affect the cycle performance of SiNPs based anode in lithium ion batteries . SiNPs coated with three different type of carbon (amorphous carbon, order carbon, amorphous/ordered dual carbon) are prepared and their electrochemical properties are investigated. Amorphous carbon (AC) coating shows a better conductivity, while the ordered carbon (OC) coating presents a good volume variation tolerance. Interestingly, amorphous/ordered dual carbon (AC/OC) coating structure simultaneously has the two advantages that amorphous and ordered carbons coating structures have. Hence, as an anode material in lithium ion batteries , AC/OC-coated SiNPs demonstrates an eclectic initial discharge capacity of 3300 mAhg −1 and exhibits an enhanced cycle performance that remains a discharge specific capacity of 1020 mAhg −1 at 200 cycles as well as 650 mAhg −1 after 500 cycles at the current density of 0.36 Ag −1 in the voltage range of 0.01–1.5 V. The preparation procedure of SiNPs@AC/OC is easy for large scale production and SiNPs@AC/OC can be mixed with graphite as composite anode materials for lithium ion batteries in industrial application.