Designing self-standing three dimensional composite SiCu thin films as anodes for lithium ion battery

Three dimensional nanostructured silicon based electrodes are promising for high capacity anodes in lithium ion battery. Though the specific capacity of silicon is very high compared to the conventional graphite anode, its large volume changes in cycling results in poor cycle life, which eventually restricts Si use in commercial applications. This problem could be overcomed by producing self-standing nanostructures that can provide facile relaxation to prevent electrode pulverization. Plus, nanostructured electrodes maintain effective electrical contacts in cycling and provide short Li diffusion distances improving their electrochemical performances. In this paper, by using electron beam evaporation glancing angle deposition method three dimensional Si based composite (10%at. Cu) self-standing nanostructures with different porosities are produced. After the morphological and structural characterizations, their potential uses as anodes in lithium ion batteries are evaluated by means of electrochemical tests.