Elucidating Degradation Mechanisms of Silicon‐graphite Electrodes in Lithium‐ion Batteries by Local Electrochemistry

Abstract The integrity of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formed on the negative electrode of lithium‐ion batteries (LIB) is especially critical for the performance of next‐generation LIBs comprising silicon‐carbon based electrode materials. The protecting character of the SEI is compromised due to volume expansion and shrinking during de/intercalation of Li ions leading to irreversible changes upon long‐term cycling. Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) is proposed as local electrochemical technique to investigate the degradation mechanisms of advanced negative electrodes. The impact of charge/discharge cycling on the SEI properties on Si−C electrodes was investigated, and the sensitivity of SECM successfully reveals inhomogeneities at an early stage of the cycling already at about 5 cycles. Macroscopic EIS measurements and evaluation of the coulombic efficiency may result in misleading interpretations of degradation. SECM is demonstrated to be a powerful and complementary technique for revealing μm‐heterogeneities in the SEI surface reactivity after a few charge/discharge cycles.