High Performance Particle/Polymer Nanofiber Anodes for Li-ion Batteries using Electrospinning

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Developing high-performance anodes is crucial for advancing lithium-ion battery technology.
• Nanoscale electrodes often face limitations in areal and volumetric capacities.
• Carbon nanoparticles offer promising electrochemical properties for battery applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prepare and characterize electrospun nanofiber mats containing carbon nanoparticles as lithium-ion battery anodes.
• To evaluate the electrochemical performance, including capacity retention and rate capability, of these novel anodes.
• To investigate the potential for creating thick nanofiber anodes with high volumetric and areal capacities.

Main Methods:

• Electrospinning of poly(vinylidene fluoride) binder with carbon nanoparticles to form nanofiber mats.
• Fabrication of thick nanofiber mats with a high fiber volume fraction (0.79).
• Electrochemical characterization including cycling stability at 0.1 C and rate capability at 2 C.

Main Results:

• The nanofiber anodes demonstrated an initial capacity of 161 mAh/g with 91.7% capacity retention after 510 cycles at 0.1 C.
• A volumetric capacity of 55 mAh/cm³ at 2 C was achieved, which is double that of typical graphite anodes.
• Thick nanofiber mats exhibited a high areal capacity of 4.3 mAh/cm².
• Excellent performance was attributed to efficient electrolyte intrusion and Li+ transport within the nanofiber structure.

Conclusions:

• Electrospun carbon nanoparticle/poly(vinylidene fluoride) nanofiber mats are effective lithium-ion battery anodes.
• The proposed architecture overcomes limitations of nanoscale electrodes, enabling high volumetric and areal capacities.
• These findings highlight the potential of electrospun nanofibers for next-generation high-energy-density batteries.