3rd Joint Call: SiNanoBatt

Background

Lithium-ion batteries with high energy density are crucial to meet the ever-expanding demands of portable electronic, electric vehicles, and large-scale energy storage. Traditional and most commercialized lithium-ion batteries use graphite and lithium metal oxides as the materials for the intercalation-based anodes. Despite their good cycling stability, such materials possess low capacity limiting the high energy density applications of the lithium-ion batteries (e.g., stationary energy storage and electric vehicles). Various anode materials have been investigated as an alternative to overcome that issue, including silicon, which is the second most abundant element in the earth’s crust. Silicon has ultra-high theoretical capacity of 4200 mAh g-1, which is about ten times higher than that of graphite anodes. However, drastic volume expansion of silicon materials during the battery operation leads to mechanical failures, loss of electrical contact, and undesirable side reactions, leading to the poor cycle life of the batteries and hinder their large-scale commercialization. Meanwhile, rapid development in the field of nanotechnology has uncovered many exciting properties of nanomaterials, including silicon nanostructures for energy storage applications. Many advances in the energy storage technology could not have been possible without enormous efforts and improvements in nanotechnology, in which understanding and manipulating the physicochemical of the materials with the desired properties at the nanometer scale had become the keys for innovation. 

The Project

The objective of the SiNanoBatt project is to use low-cost semiconductor nanomaterials (i.e., 3D silicon nanostructures for anodes) and top-down nanotechnologies to realize lithium-ion rechargeable batteries with high energy density and long cycle life. The silicon-based materials will be nano-engineered to alleviate the effect of volume expansion of silicon. Hence, we can prevent the capacity losses, improve the cycle life, and enhance the C-rate performance of the batteries. Two main strategies will be introduced for the anode design: (1) to use the 3D silicon nanostructures with different architectures and crystal orientations and (2) to integrate them with carbon or polymeric frameworks for creating novel hybrid carbon/polymeric/silicon nano-anodes. Such approaches are expected to be able to accommodate the volume expansion on the silicon anode without losing the structural integrity and mechanical stability during the lithiation process. Furthermore, the experimental works will be supported by theoretical studies (i.e., modeling of silicon nanomaterials and packing capacity of lithium-ion in the anodes) to understand the effects of the proposed approaches at the atomic scale.

The Science

SiNanoBatt enables a top-down fabrication of well-controlled and vertically-aligned 3D silicon nanostructures that are employed as an anode for lithium-ion batteries. Different 3D vertical silicon architectures will be realized (e.g., vertical silicon nanowires with various geometries), in which they are expected to be able to maintain high electrical conductivity, obtain good ionic conductivity, and exhibit robust structural integrity during the lithiation/delithiation processes. Various nanopatterning techniques (e.g., photolithography, nanoimprint lithography, and colloidal nanosphere lithography) will be utilized to fabricate the desired structures. Moreover, those well-tailored silicon nanoplatforms will be integrated with carbon-based materials and polymeric networks to enhance the battery performance by creating such unique hybrid nanostructures with higher conductivity and stronger mechanical properties.

The Team

The SiNanoBatt partners are:

• Dr.-Ing. Hutomo Suryo Wasisto, Institute of Semiconductor Technology (IHT) and Laboratory for Emerging Nanometrology (LENA), Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany (Project Coordinator)
• apl. Prof. Dr. Erwin Peiner, Institute of Semiconductor Technology (IHT) and Laboratory for Emerging Nanometrology (LENA), Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany (Project Coordinator)
• Dr. Afriyanti Sumboja, Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia
• Prof. Dr. Vudhichai Parasuk, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
• Nursidik Yulianto, M.Eng., Institute of Semiconductor Technology (IHT) and Laboratory for Emerging Nanometrology (LENA), Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany
• Andam Deatama Refino, M.Sc., Institute of Semiconductor Technology (IHT) and Laboratory for Emerging Nanometrology (LENA), Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany

Contact:

Dr.-Ing. Hutomo Suryo Wasisto, e-mail: h.wasisto@nanosense-id.com

apl. Prof. Dr. Erwin Peiner, e-mail: e.peiner@tu-braunschweig.de