Waste Windshield-Derived Silicon/Carbon Nanocomposites as High-Performance Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes

Silicon has emerged as the most promising high-capacity material for lithium-ion batteries. Waste glass can be a potential low cost and environmentally benign silica resource enabling production of nanosized silicon at the industry level. Windshields are generally made of laminated glass comprising two separate glass bonded together with a layer of polyvinyl butyral sandwiched between them. Herein, silicon/carbon nanocomposites are fabricated from windshields for the first time via magnesiothermic reduction and facile carbonization process using both waste glass and polyvinyl butyral as silica and carbon sources, respectively. High purity reduced silicon has unique 3-dimensional nanostructure with large surface area. Furthermore, the incorporation of carbon in silicon enable to retain the composite anodes highly conductive and mechanically robust, thus providing enhanced cycle stability.