Nanocrystalline-Amorphous Silicon Composite Anode by Chemical Reduction of Silicon Salts

Lithium ion batteries have become the workhorse for most of the portable electronic devices such as cell phones, PDA’s, laptops etc. They are also emerging as a potential flagship energy storage alternatives to fossil fuels in automobiles to curb the CO2 emissions and our dependance on non-renewable resources. This is primarily due to high energy density offered by lithium ion batteries. Graphite which is commonly used as the anode has a theoretical capacity of 372 mAh/g. Since, current energy requirements demands more capacity per unit weight of the energy storage device, silicon with a theoretical capacity of 4200mAh/g has been identified as an alternative anode. But silicon undergoes large volume expansion and contraction (>300%) upon lithium alloying and dealloying leading to electrode pulverization an