Lithium Silicates in Anode Materials for Li-Ion and Li Metal Batteries

The structural and interfacial stability of silicon-based and lithium metal anode materials is essential to their battery performance. Scientists are looking for a better inactive material to buffer strong volume change and suppress unwanted surface reactions of these anodes during cycling. Lithium silicates formed in situ during the formation cycle of silicon monoxide anode not only manage anode swelling but also avoid undesired interfacial interactions, contributing to the successful commercialization of silicon monoxide anode materials. Additionally, lithium silicates have been further utilized in the design of advanced silicon and lithium metal anodes, and the results have shown significant promise in the past few years. In this review article, we summarize the structures, electrochemical properties, and formation conditions of lithium silicates. Their applications in advanced silicon and lithium metal anode materials are also introduced.

Зависимость электрохимических параметров композитных SiO/C-анодов для литий-ионных аккумуляторов от состава и температуры синтеза

The results of a study of anodes obtained by carbonization of silicon monoxide by means of a reaction with solid-phase fluorocarbon CF0.8 are presented. Charge/discharge voltage profiles were studied at different currents depending on the composition and temperature of the synthesis of composites. The irreversible losses of the 1st cycle and the contribution to them of intrinsic losses due to the formation of lithium oxide and its silicates and losses associated with the formation of SEI are analyzed. A difference has been established in the behavior of anodes made of SiO carbonized by annealing with CF0.8 at T=800°C (SiO/C composite) and silicon monoxide annealed with CF0.8 at T>1000°C, at which disproportionation occurs simultaneously with the carbonization of SiO (d-SiO/C composite). The difference consisting in a higher discharge capacity, a higher Coulomb efficiency, and better rate capability of d-SiO/C is explained by a change in the composition of the SiOx matrix that occurs during the disproportionation process. The effect of the formation of d-SiO/C anodes by preliminary lithiation with a low current, after which the electrodes can be charged and discharged with much higher currents, has been discovered. The effect is explained by the amorphization of silicon crystallites and the increasing diffusion coefficient of lithium

Oxidation Resistance of a Si–TiSi2–MoSi2–TiB2–CaSi2 Coating on a Cf/C–SiC Substrate in High-Speed High-Enthalpy Air Plasma Flows

The results of a study on the development and testing of a heat-resistant coating in a Si–TiSi2–MoSi2–TiB2–CaSi2 system to protect Cf/C–SiC composites from oxidation and erosional entrainment in high-speed flows are presented here. The coating was formed using firing fusion technology on the powder composition. Oxidation resistance tests were carried out under static conditions in air at 1650 °C and under conditions of interaction with high-speed air plasma flows, with Mach numbers M = 5.5–6.0 and enthalpy 40–50 MJ/kg. The effectiveness of the protective action of the coating was confirmed at surface temperatures of Tw = 1810–1820 °C for at least 920–930 s, at Tw = 1850–1860 °C for not less than 510–520 s, at Tw = 1900–1920 °C for not less than 280–290 s, and at Tw = 1940–1960 °C for not less than 100–110 s. The values of the rate of loss of the coating mass and the rate constant of heterogeneous recombination of atoms and ions of air plasma on its surface were estimated. The performance of the coating was ensured by the structural-phase state of its main layer, and the formation and evolution on its surface during operation of a passivating heterogeneous oxide film. This film, in turn, is composed of borosilicate glass with titanium and calcium liquation inhomogeneities, reinforcing TiO2 microneedles and in situ Si2ON2 fibers. It was shown that at Tw≥ 1850–1860 °C, the generation of volatile silicon monoxide was observed at the “oxide layer–coating” interface, followed by the effects of boiling and breakdown degradation of the oxide film, which significantly reduced the lifespan of the protective action of the coating.

Study on Waste Heat-Driven Refrigeration System for Energy Saving and Fast Cooling of Dust Collector in Monocrystalline Silicon Manufacture

Single-crystal silicon is key raw material in photovoltaic industry. In its manufacture, silicon monoxide dust, a byproduct, is collected under vacuum environment. To clean the dust collector, air is recharged into the collector, reacting with the dust and causing very high temperature. Collector components may be damaged. It also takes several hours to cool down. In this paper, a cooling system based on ejection refrigeration cycle is proposed, which collects the reaction heat and simultaneously controls the collector temperature around 100°C. Then, it is driven by stored waste reaction heat and cools down the dust to a lower temperature. The designed cooling system, employing a 9.7972 m2 fin-tube heat exchanger, can simultaneously meet the cooling load of four dust collectors with 330L/S capacity. By a thermodynamic model established in this work, performance analysis is carried out. Generating temperature around 73°C and evaporating temperature around 6°C are recommended for system operation. Results also show the cooling system is able to provide 3270 kJ cooling energy that is needed by the collector, for fast cooling down the dust no longer than 620 s. It is about 92% shorter than the time of current collector, indicating the cooling system is effective and feasible.

Realization of Twenty Monochromatic Beams using Photonic Structure via Principle of Filtering

The current work employs silicon-based one dimensional photonic structure which delivers ‘20’ different types of monochromatic beams (wavelengths) via filtering action. The I/P signals are essentially varies from visible to short infrared range to justify the work. Though similar type of works related to filtering application are found in the literature, the present research deals with an output signal which could be deployed in different purposes vis-à-vis dentistry, dermatology, spectroscopy, printing, holography, barcode scanning etc. The physicality of this work incorporates 68 layers of silicon monoxide and silicon based one-dimensional optical waveguide along with their configuration where the plane wave expansion method does fulfill the nitty-gritty of required mathematics to solve out electromagnetic wave equations. Reflectance and transmittance characteristics along with the absorbance are the critical parameters that substantiate the said application.

The Ionization Energies of Dust-Forming Metal Oxide Clusters

Stellar dust grains are predominantly composed of mineralic, anorganic material forming in the circumstellar envelopes of oxygen-rich AGB stars. However, the initial stage of the dust synthesis, or its nucleation, is not well understood. In particular, the chemical nature of the nucleating species, represented by molecular clusters, is uncertain. We investigated the vertical and adiabatic ionization energies of four different metal-oxide clusters by means of density functional theory. They included clusters of magnesia (MgO)n, silicon monoxide (SiO)n, alumina (Al2O3)n, and titania (TiO2)n with stoichiometric sizes of n = 1–8. The magnesia, alumina, and titania clusters showed relatively little variation in their ionization energies with respect to the cluster size n: 7.1–8.2 eV for (MgO)n, from 8.9–10.0 eV for (Al2O3)n, and 9.3–10.5 eV for (TiO2)n. In contrast, the (SiO)n ionization energies decrease with size n, starting from 11.5 eV for n = 1, and decreasing to 6.6 eV for n = 8. Therefore, we set constraints on the stability limit for neutral metal-oxide clusters to persist ionization through radiation or high temperatures and for the nucleation to proceed via neutral–neutral reactions.