Enhanced reversible lithium storage in a nanosize silicon/graphene composite

Si/graphene composite was prepared by simply mixing of commercially available nanosize Si and graphene. Electrochemical tests show that the Si/graphene composite maintains a capacity of 1168 mAh g-1 and an average coulombic efficiency of 93% up to 30 cycles. EIS indicates that the Si/graphene composite electrode has less than 50% of the charge-transfer resistance compared with nanosize Si electrode, evidencing the enhanced ionic conductivity of Si/graphene composite. The enhanced cycling stability is attributed to the fact that the Si/graphene composite can accommodate large volume charge of Si and maintain good electronic contact.