Research progress in degradation mechanism of silicon anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Silicon anode materials have very high theoretical specific capacity, hence become promising replacement for anode material of lithium-ion batteries. However, during charging and discharging, silicon anode materials suffer big volume deformation that may cause destruction and failure of the active material. This seriously affects the electrochemical cycle performance, and restricts wide applications in the field of lithium-ion batteries. In this paper, we introduce silicon anode materials of different structure form, and the degradation mechanism of the electrochemical properties during charging and discharging. We summarize the latest international research progress in mechanical properties evolution of charging and discharging process, the related theoretical analysis, numerical simulations, and prospects for research emphasis of the mechanical failure in silicon anode materials.