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Carbon coatings can help to stabilize the electrochemical performance of high-energy anodes using silicon nanoparticles as the active material. In this work, the comparison of the behavior and chemical composition of the Solid Electrolyte Interphase (SEI) was carried out between Si nanoparticles and carbon-coated Si nanoparticles (Si@C). A combination of two complementary analytical techniques, Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), was used to determine the intrinsic characteristics of the SEI. It was demonstrated that the SEI on Si particles is more resistive than the SEI on the Si@C particles. XPS demonstrated that the interface on the Si particles contains more oxygen when not covered with carbon, which shows that a protective layer of carbon helps to reduce the number of inorganic components, leading to more resistive SEI. The combination of those two analytical techniques is implemented to highlight the features and evolution of interfaces in different battery technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Core-shell silicon-carbon nanoparticles are attractive candidates as active material to increase the capacity of Li-ion batteries while mitigating the detrimental effects of volume expansion upon lithiation. However crystalline silicon suffers from amorphization upon the first charge/discharge cycle and improved stability is expected in starting with amorphous silicon. Here we report the synthesis, in a single-step process, of amorphous silicon nanoparticles coated with a carbon shell (a-Si@C), via a two-stage laser pyrolysis where decomposition of silane and ethylene are conducted in two successive reaction zones. Control of experimental conditions mitigates silicon core crystallization as well as formation of silicon carbide. Auger electron spectroscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy show a carbon shell about 1 nm in thickness, which prevents detrimental oxidation of the a-Si cores. Cyclic voltammetry demonstrates that the core-shell composite reaches its maximal lithiation during the first sweep, thanks to its amorphous core. After 500 charge/discharge cycles, it retains a capacity of 1250 mAh.g −1 at a C/5 rate and 800 mAh.g −1 at 2C, with an outstanding coulombic efficiency of 99.95%. Moreover, post-mortem observations show an electrode volume expansion of less than 20% and preservation of the nanostructuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]