Electrolyte additive and surface coating approaches to enable high-performance graphite/Si anode for Li-ion batteries

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The rising level of greenhouse gases caused by fossil fuels is known to be one of the foremost drivers of**climate change. In Canada, the transportation sector was the second largest source of greenhouse gases,**accounting for 23% of total emissions in 2014. In this context, electric vehicles (EVs) are gaining widespread**interests in order to realize clean transportation. Li-ion batteries have been widely used to power today's EVs,**but suffer from limited energy density, resulting in inferior EV driving range (~200 km or less) per battery**charge. Therefore, It is imperative to devleop Li-ion batteries with higher energy density.**Graphite/Si anode holds great promise for next-genertion Li-ion batteries, due to its higher capacity than**commecial graphite anode. Springpower International Inc. (SPI), an Ontario-based clean technology company,**has developed patented graphite/Si composite anode. However, one critical challenge that SPI faces is the**relatively low efficiency and capacity retention of graphite/Si anode during long cycling, which hinder its**practical application in vehicular batteries. In this project, Prof. Jian Liu at UBC Okanagan, in partnership with**SPI, will use two interface-engineering approaches (electrolyte additive and surface coating) to address this**challenge. It is expected that these two approaches will enable the formation of robust solid electrolyte**interphases on graphite/Si anode, and significantly improve its efficiency and capacity retention.**Success of this project will deliver high-performance graphite/Si anode materials that will put SPI in a leading**position in key battery material supply. Moreover, lithium-ion battery research will have great impacts on**economic and environmental sectors of Canada. The global market for vehicular batteries is anticipated to**reach $93.94 Billion by 2026. This presents an unprecedented opportunity for Canadian battery industries**(such as SPI, E-One Moli, Corvus), and create new economic venue in the next decade.