Nitrogen-doped carbon coating for a high-performance SiO anode in lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

We report a simple process to coat silicon monoxide (SiO) particles with nitrogen-doped carbon layers (NC-SiO) by using a nitrogen-containing ionic liquid. The nitrogen-doping addresses the moderate electric conductivity of SiO particles as large as 20 mu m and thus enables NC-SiO to exhibit substantially improved specific capacity and rate performance as compared to those of bare carbon-coated SiO (C-SiO) and bare SiO counterparts. Due to the simplicity of the coating procedure, the current approach should be readily applicable to other lithium battery electrodes that suffer from low electronic conductivities. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.