Confined Solid Electrolyte Interphase Growth Space with Solid Polymer Electrolyte in Hollow Structured Silicon Anode for Li-Ion Batteries

Silicon anodes for lithium-ion batteries are of much interest owing to their extremely high specific capacity but still face some challenges, especially the tremendous volume change which occurs in cycling and further leads to the disintegration of electrode structure and excessive growth of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). Here, we designed a novel approach to confine the inward growth of SEI by filling solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) into pores of hollow silicon spheres. The as-prepared composite delivers a high specific capacity of more than 2100 mAh g-1 and a long-term cycle stability with a reversible capacity of 1350 mAh g-1 over 500 cycles. The growing behavior of SEI was investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry, and the results revealed that SPE occupies the major space of SEI growth and thus confines its excessive growth, which significantly improves cycle performance and Coulombic efficiency of cells embracing hollow silicon spheres.