Enhanced Lithium Storage Performance: Dual-Modified Electrospun Si@MnO@CNFs Composites for Advanced Anodes

Abstract

Due to its many benefits, including high specific capacity, low voltage plateau, and plentiful supplies, silicon-based anode materials are a strong contender to replace graphite anodes. However, silicon has drawbacks such as poor electrical conductivity, abrupt volume changes during the discharge process, and continuous growth of the solid electrolyte interfacial (SEI) film during cycling, which would cause the electrode capacity to degrade quickly. Coating the silicon’s exterior with carbon or metal oxide is a popular method to resolve the above-mentioned problems. In light of those above, the liquid-phase approach and electrostatic spinning technique were used in this work to create Si@MnO@CNFs bilayer-coated silicon-based anode materials. Because of the well-thought-out design, MnO and C bilaterally coat the silicon nanoparticles, significantly reducing their volume effect during cycling. Furthermore, manganese oxide has outstanding electrochemical kinetics and an excellent theoretical capacity. The carbon nanofibers’ outermost layer increases the material’s conductivity and stabilizes the composite material’s structure, reducing the volume effect. After 1100 cycles at 2 A g^–1, the composite anode material prepared in this work can still maintain a high capacity of 994.4 mAh g^–1. This study offers an unusual combination of silicon and MnO that might set the way for the application of silicon-based composites in lithium-ion batteries.