Si-dominant anodes
for Li-ion batteries provide very
high gravimetric
and volumetric capacity but suffer from low cycling stability due
to an unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). In this work, we
improved the cycling performance of Si/NCM pouch cells by coating
the Si anodes with the conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)
(PEDOT) prior to cell assembly via an electropolymerization process.
The thicknesses of the PEDOT coatings could be adjusted by a facile
process parameter variation. Glow-discharge optical emission spectroscopy
was used to determine the coating thicknesses on the electrodes prior
to the cell assembly. During electrochemical testing, improvements
were observed closely linked to the PEDOT coating thickness. Specifically,
thinner PEDOT coatings exhibited a higher capacity retention and lower
internal resistance in the corresponding pouch cells. For the thinnest
coatings, the cell lifetime was 18% higher compared to that of uncoated
Si anodes. Postmortem analyses via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
and cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy revealed a better-maintained
microstructure and a chemically different SEI for the PEDOT-coated
anodes.