PROPORTIONAL EFFECT IN SbSi/N-DOPED GRAPHENE NANOCOMPOSITE PREPARATION FOR HIGH-PERFORMANCE LITHIUM-ION BATTERIES

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have become commercialized technologies for the modern and future world, but commercial batteries using graphite still have a low specific capacity and are concerned with safety issues. Silicon (Si) and antimony (Sb) nanocomposites have the tendency to be synthesized as high-energy-density anode materials which can be a solution for the above-mentioned problems. This work reported the synthesis methods and characterization of Sb and Si composited with nitrogen-doped graphene (SbSi/NrGO) by facile chemical method and thermal treatment. Si was obtained by magnesiothermic reduction of SiO2 derived from rice husk, waste from the agricultural process. To study the phases, particle distributions, and morphologies, all prepared composites were characterized. In this experiment, the phase compositions were confirmed as c-Si, t-Si, SiC, Sb, and shifted peaks of expanded C which were caused by NrGO synthesis. Interestingly, a good distribution of Si and Sb particles on the NrGO surface was obtained in 15Sb15Si/NrGO composition. It could be due to appropriate Sb and Si contents on the NrGO surface area in composite materials. Morphological identification of synthesized products represented the Sb and Si particles in nanoscale dispersed on thin wrinkled-paper NrGO. These results suggested that the synthesis method in this paper is appropriate to prepare SbSi/NrGO nanocomposites to be used as high-performance anode materials in high-performance LIBs for advanced applications.