Nano-porous copper metal current collector for lithium ion batteries

A low-cost and scalable ultrasonic synthetic method to produce copper metal current collector with uniform nanopores on the surface is achieved for the first time. A layer of silicon active material was sputtered on the surface of as-prepared metal current collector (vs. metal lithium) as an innovative current collecting material for lithium ion battery. The assembled battery with this current collector showed an areal capacity of 2.2 mAh/cm2, comparable to that of commercially available lithium ion batteries. Due to the nano-porous structure of current collector, the silicon active material electrochemical capacity retention and cycling stability also improved significantly.