Silicon anodes are a key component for high-energy lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Electrode binder engineering for Si anodes has been calling increasing awareness. Here, we report a series of molecularly engineered conductive polymer binders, that is, star-like polyaniline (s-PANi), cross-linked polyaniline (c-PANi), and linear polyaniline (l-PANi). As a conductive binder, the molecular structure of PANi was found to play a key role in determining the performance of a Si anode: a reversible capacity of 1776 mAh g^–1 after 100 cycles at 500 mA g^–1 was achieved using s-PANi as the conductive binder, far superior than systems adopting c-PANi, l-PANi, and conventional carboxymethyl cellulose binders. The correlation between the binder molecule structure and Si anode performance is found: a star-like molecular structure is more advantageous over the heavily cross-linked structure for it offers a 3D-conjugated conductive network that is more resistant to cycle-induced large strain.

中文翻译：

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分子工程导电聚合物粘合剂可稳定储存锂

硅阳极是高能锂离子电池（LIB）的关键组件。硅阳极的电极粘合剂工程已经引起人们越来越多的关注。在这里，我们报告了一系列分子工程化的导电聚合物粘合剂，即星形聚苯胺（s-PANi），交联聚苯胺（c-PANi）和线性聚苯胺（1-PANi）。作为导电性粘结剂，聚苯胺的分子结构被发现在确定的Si的阳极的性能发挥了关键作用：1776毫安g的可逆容量^-1以500mA克100次循环后^-1使用s-PANi作为导电粘合剂可实现比使用c-PANi，l-PANi和常规羧甲基纤维素粘合剂的系统更好的性能。发现了粘合剂分子结构与Si阳极性能之间的相关性：星形分子结构比重度交联的结构更具优势，因为它提供了3D共轭的导电网络，该网络更耐循环诱导的大应变。