Stabilized lithium metal powder (SLMP) has been applied during battery assembly to effectively prelithiate high capacity (1500-2500 mAh/g) silicon-carbon nanotube (Si-CNT) anodes, eliminating the 20-40% first cycle irreversible capacity loss. Pressure-activation of SLMP is shown to enhance prelithiation and enable capacity matching between Si-CNT anodes and lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA) cathodes in full batteries with minimal added mass. The prelithiation approach enables high energy density NCA/Si-CNT batteries achieving >1000 cycles at 20% depth-of-discharge.

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The morphology, thermal stability, impedance, and rate performance of germanium nanoparticle (Ge-NP) based lithium ion battery electrodes that incorporate single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) conductive additives has been systematically studied for varying SWCNT loadings (1-3% w/w SWCNT) and electrode areal capacities (4-12 mA h cm À2 ). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterize the surface coverage for carbon black and SWCNT conductive additives. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis shows a 30% reduction in exothermic release with SWCNT conductive additives, which demonstrates improved thermal stability for Ge-NP electrodes. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) indicates that the charge transfer impedance can be reduced roughly 2.5Â when comparing 5% carbon black to #3% SWCNT conductive additive. Electrochemical cycling and rate testing demonstrate that SWCNT conductive additives provide significantly improved specific capacities (1100 mA h g À1 with 1% SWCNT) and rate performance (80% capacity retention at effective 1 C rate) over traditional carbon black conductive additives when using Ge-NP active material. In addition to the benefits for thermal stability, impedance, and rate performance, predicted energy density gains from Ge-NP anodes can be up to 20-25% in full batteries.

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