Experimental Methods to Study Environmental Sustainability of Silicon-based Lithium Ion Battery Manufacturing

摘要

Next-generation lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are under rapid development using various nano-structured materials. Among them, silicon nanowires (SiNWs) and silicon nanotubes (SiNTs) are two promising anode materials due to their high specific capacities. However, fabrication processes of SiNWs and SiNTs involve a large amount of toxic chemicals and generate significant potential impacts on the environment. In this study, both in-situ and ex-situ measurements were proposed for investigating the process emissions, including gas, aerosol nanoparticle, and aqueous nanoparticle emissions, from chemical etching processes for producing SiNWs and SiNTs for use as anode materials for LIBs. The feasibilities of the measurements were verified by the preliminary results of the emissions from the SiNTs synthesis process. This study provides insight into experimental measurements of and supports the gathering of process data on emissions from synthesis processes for SiNWs and SiNTs as anode materials for LIBs, which can be useful for future assessment of the sustainability performance of silicon-based LIB technology.