title: Silicon nanowire fabric as a lithium ion battery electrode material.
abstract: A nonwoven fabric with paperlike qualities composed of silicon nanowires is reported. The nanowires, made by the supercritical-fluid-liquid-solid process, are crystalline, range in diameter from 10 to 50 nm with an average length of >100 μm, and are coated with a thin chemisorbed polyphenylsilane shell. About 90% of the nanowire fabric volume is void space. Thermal annealing of the nanowire fabric in a reducing environment converts the polyphenylsilane coating to a carbonaceous layer that significantly increases the electrical conductivity of the material. This makes the nanowire fabric useful as a self-supporting, mechanically flexible, high-energy-storage anode material in a lithium ion battery. Anode capacities of more than 800 mA h g(-1) were achieved without the addition of conductive carbon or binder.
authors: Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas Materials Institute, Center for Nano- and Molecular Science and Technology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1062, USA.
authors: Aaron M
authors: AM
authors: Chockla
authors: Justin T
authors: JT
authors: Harris
authors: Vahid A
authors: VA
authors: Akhavan
authors: Timothy D
authors: TD
authors: Bogart
authors: Vincent C
authors: VC
authors: Holmberg
authors: Chet
authors: C
authors: Steinhagen
authors: C Buddie
authors: CB
authors: Mullins
authors: Keith J
authors: KJ
authors: Stevenson
authors: Brian A
authors: BA
authors: Korgel
mesh_terms: D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004566:Electrodes; D008094:Lithium / Q000737:chemistry*; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D008094:Lithium; D012825:Silicon