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

众所周知，化石燃料造成的温室气体水平上升是气候变化的最主要驱动因素之一。在加拿大，运输部门是第二大温室气体来源，**占2014年总排放量的23%。在这种背景下，电动汽车(EVS)正受到人们的广泛关注，以实现清洁交通。锂离子电池已被广泛用于为当今的电动汽车提供动力，但由于能量密度有限，导致每次充电的电动汽车续航里程较差(~200公里或更短)。因此，开发具有更高能量密度的锂离子电池势在必行。**石墨/硅负极具有比**普通石墨负极更高的容量，在下一代锂离子电池中具有广阔的应用前景。总部位于安大略省的清洁技术公司Springpower International Inc.(SPI)**开发了获得专利的石墨/硅复合阳极。然而，SPI面临的一个关键挑战是，石墨/硅负极在长时间循环过程中的效率和容量保持率相对较低，这阻碍了其在车用电池中的实际应用。在这个项目中，UBC Okanagan的刘健教授将与**SPI合作，使用两种界面工程方法(电解液添加剂和表面涂层)来应对这一**挑战。预计这两种方法将使SPI能够在石墨/硅负极上形成坚固的固体电解质**，并显著提高其效率和容量保持率。**该项目的成功将提供高性能的石墨/硅负极材料，使SPI在关键电池材料供应方面处于领先**地位。此外，锂离子电池的研究将对加拿大的经济和环境部门产生重大影响。到2026年，全球车用电池市场预计将达到939.4亿美元。这为加拿大电池行业**(如SPI、E-ONE Moli、Corvus)提供了前所未有的机遇，并在未来十年创造了新的经济场所。

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.