Well-designed strategy based on mesopores silica and ZIF۶۷ to engineer hybrid silicon-based electrodes for application in LIBs

The natural abundance and well-explored synthesis of silica have provoked impressive evolution of silicon-based electrodes over the last few years, but their practical application in Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is still hindered by low initial coulombic efficiency and inferior cycling stability. In this work, to tackle the challenges to exploit the potential of silica as anode in LIBs, an effective and well-designed strategy is introduced based on using of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks-۶۷ (ZIF۶۷)/mesopores silica (mSiO۲) as a precursor. This approach leads to construct a novel hybrid of hierarchical N-doped graphitic carbon containing ultrafine cobalt-based nanoparticles and silica (SiO۲/Co۳O۴/NC/NCNTs). From electrochemical point of view, the performance of the engineered electrode was evaluated in both of half-cell and full-cell LIBs. The high reversible capacity of ~ ۵۰۰ mA h g-۱ in half-cell at high current density of ۱۰ A g-۱ with a extraordinary initial coulombic efficiency of ~۸۲.۷% and good compatibility with LiFePO۴ in full-cell suggest that the anode material herein reported as a suitable electrode for application in high-energy LIBs.

Keywords:

silicon , ZIF۶۷ , hybrid electrodes , li-ion batteries , high current , high capacity