Composite Anodes with Silicon and Engineered Graphene for Advanced Li-ion Battery

Introduction Rechargeable batteries with improved energy and power density have many potential, high impact applications including advanced portable electronics and electric vehicles. However, most ‘next-generation’ materials capable of providing improved performance suffer from rapid capacity degradation and severe loss of capacity when rapidly discharged. Architectural design that could successfully improve the cycling stability and maintain storage capacity at high rates would make these materials much more commercially attractive. Graphene, a unique twodimensional material composed of atomically thin carbon sheets, has shown potential to address unsatisfactory rate capability, limited cycling performance and abrupt failure of conventional electrical energy storage devices. Therefore, we have been exploring graphene-based architectures, allowing us to exploit graphene’s unique combination of high surface area, high inplane electrical conductivity, excellent tensile modulus and mechanical durability.