Stress evolution in composite silicon electrodes during lithiation/delithiation

We report real-time average stress measurements on composite silicon electrodes made with two different binders - viz. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) - during electrochemical lithiation and delithiation. During galvanostatic lithiation at very slow rates, the stress in a CMC-based electrode becomes compressive and increases to 70 MPa, where it reaches a plateau and increases slowly thereafter with capacity. The PVDF-based electrode exhibits similar behavior, although with lower peak compressive stress of about 12 MPa. These initial experiments indicate that the stress evolution in a Si composite electrode depends strongly on the mechanical properties of the binder. Stress data obtained from a series of lithiation/delithiation cycles suggests plasticity induced irreversible shape changes in contacting Si particles, and as a result, the stress response of the system during any given lithiation/delithiation cycle depends on the cycling history of the electrode. While these results constitute the first in situ stress measurements on composite Si electrodes during electrochemical cycling, the diagnostic technique described herein can be used to assess the mechanical response of a composite electrode made with other active material/binder combinations.