Optimal Conditions for Fast Charging and Long Cycling Stability of Silicon Microwire Anodes for Lithium Ion Batteries, and Comparison with the Performance of Other Si Anode Concepts

Cycling tests under various conditions have been performed for lithium ion battery anodes made from free-standing silicon microwires embedded at one end in a copper current collector. Optimum charging/discharging conditions have been found for which the anode shows negligible fading (< 0.001%) over 80 cycles; an outstanding result for this kind of anodes. Several performance parameters of the anode have been compared to the ones of other Si anode concepts, showing that especially the capacity as well as the rates of charge flow per nominal area of anode are the highest for the present anode. With regard to applications, the specific parameters per area are more important than the specific gravimetric parameters like the gravimetric capacity, which is good for comparing the capacity between materials but not enough for comparing between anodes.