Développement de Batteries Li-Ion à Electrode Négative de Silicium – BaSilic

The enhancement of the electrochemical performance of the negative electrode material can have a strong influence on the energy density delivered by a Li-ion battery. The active material currently used is graphite, delivering a specific capacity of 372 mAh/g. Recent studies proved that, under particular conditions, silicium is a "revolutionary" reversible active material with a specific capacity that can reach up to ten times that of graphite. The electrochemical process of formation of silicium-lithium alloy is reversible. Nevertheless, this reversibility is strongly hindered by volume variation of Si upon its reaction with lithium (~300% vs. ~10% for graphite) leading to its decrepitation and therefore a loss of electronic connectivity within the electrode and a short cycle life. During the past few years, numerous studies have attempted to remedy to this problem without succeeding in proposing a viable commercial application. The targeted technological breakthrough consists in a solution allowing cycling silicon electrodes over a large number of charge/discharge cycles with small capacity loss. This is the goal we are aiming at, within the frame of this project. This french-canadian research project will gather the complementary expertises and equipments of two research laboratories, internationally renowned for their work in the field of materials applied to energy storage (IMN, France and INRS-EMT, Canada). In addition, this project will be supported by three canadians industrial companies (Metafoam, FPInnovations and Bathium).