TY - JOUR
T1 - Anodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries Based on Type i Silicon Clathrate Ba8Al16Si30 - Role of Processing on Surface Properties and Electrochemical Behavior
AU - Zhao, Ran
AU - Bobev, Svilen
AU - Krishna, Lakshmi
AU - Yang, Ting
AU - Weller, J. Mark
AU - Jing, Hangkun
AU - Chan, Candace K.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by funding from NSF DMR-1206795. We thank Y. Li for helpful discussions. We greatly acknowledge the use of facilities within the LeRoy Eyring Center for Solid State Science at Arizona State University. Support for the synthesis of Zintl clathrates by L.K. was provided by Energy Frontier Research in Extreme Environments (EFree) Center, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science under award No. DESC0001057.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by funding from NSF DMR-1206795. We thank Y. Li for helpful discussions. We greatly acknowledge the use of facilities within the LeRoy Eyring Center for Solid State Science at Arizona State University. Support for the synthesis of Zintl clathrates by L.K. was provided by Energy Frontier Research in Extreme Environments (EFree) Center an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science under award No. DE-SC0001057.
PY - 2017/11/29
Y1 - 2017/11/29
N2 - Type I silicon clathrates based on Ba8AlySi46-y (8 < y < 12) have been studied as potential anodes for lithium-ion batteries and display electrochemical properties that are distinct from those found in conventional silicon anodes. Processing steps such as ball-milling (typically used to reduce the particle size) and acid/base treatment (used to remove nonclathrate impurities) may modify the clathrate surface structure or introduce defects, which could affect the observed electrochemical properties. In this work, we perform a systematic investigation of Ba8AlySi46-y clathrates with y ≈ 16, i.e, having a composition near Ba8Al16Si30, which perfectly satisfies the Zintl condition. The roles of ball-milling and acid/base treatment were investigated using electrochemical, X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron and Raman spectroscopy analysis. The results showed that acid/base treatment removed impurities from the synthesis, but also led to formation of a surface oxide layer that inhibited lithiation. Ball-milling could remove the surface oxide and result in the formation of an amorphous surface layer, with the observed charge storage capacity correlated with the thickness of this amorphous layer. According to the XRD and electrochemical analysis, all lithiation/delithiation processes are proposed to occur in single phase reactions at the surface with no discernible changes to the crystal structure in the bulk. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results suggest that the mechanism of lithiation is through surface-dominated, Faradaic processes. This suggests that for off-stoichiometric clathrates, as we studied in our previous work, Li+ insertion at defects or vacancies on the framework may be the origin of reversible Li cycling. However, for clathrates Ba8AlySi46-y with y ≈ 16, Li insertion in the structure is unfavorable and low capacities are observed unless amorphous surface layers are introduced by ball-milling.
AB - Type I silicon clathrates based on Ba8AlySi46-y (8 < y < 12) have been studied as potential anodes for lithium-ion batteries and display electrochemical properties that are distinct from those found in conventional silicon anodes. Processing steps such as ball-milling (typically used to reduce the particle size) and acid/base treatment (used to remove nonclathrate impurities) may modify the clathrate surface structure or introduce defects, which could affect the observed electrochemical properties. In this work, we perform a systematic investigation of Ba8AlySi46-y clathrates with y ≈ 16, i.e, having a composition near Ba8Al16Si30, which perfectly satisfies the Zintl condition. The roles of ball-milling and acid/base treatment were investigated using electrochemical, X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron and Raman spectroscopy analysis. The results showed that acid/base treatment removed impurities from the synthesis, but also led to formation of a surface oxide layer that inhibited lithiation. Ball-milling could remove the surface oxide and result in the formation of an amorphous surface layer, with the observed charge storage capacity correlated with the thickness of this amorphous layer. According to the XRD and electrochemical analysis, all lithiation/delithiation processes are proposed to occur in single phase reactions at the surface with no discernible changes to the crystal structure in the bulk. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results suggest that the mechanism of lithiation is through surface-dominated, Faradaic processes. This suggests that for off-stoichiometric clathrates, as we studied in our previous work, Li+ insertion at defects or vacancies on the framework may be the origin of reversible Li cycling. However, for clathrates Ba8AlySi46-y with y ≈ 16, Li insertion in the structure is unfavorable and low capacities are observed unless amorphous surface layers are introduced by ball-milling.
KW - Lithium-ion batteries
KW - anode
KW - clathrate
KW - silicon
KW - surface properties
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U2 - 10.1021/acsami.7b12810
DO - 10.1021/acsami.7b12810
M3 - Article
C2 - 28980798
AN - SCOPUS:85036476730
VL - 9
SP - 41246
EP - 41257
JO - ACS applied materials & interfaces
JF - ACS applied materials & interfaces
SN - 1944-8244
IS - 47
ER -