Pitch-based carbon/nano-silicon composite, an efficient anode for Li-ion batteries.

As silicon-carbon electrodes with low silicon ratio are the negative electrode foreseen by battery manufacturers for the next generation of Li-ion batteries, a great effort has to be made to improve their efficiency and decrease their cost. Pitch-based carbon/nano-silicon composites are proposed as a high performance and realistic electrode material of Li-ion battery anodes. Composites are prepared in a simple way by the pyrolysis under argon atmosphere of silicon nanoparticles, obtained by a laser pyrolysis technique, and a low cost carbon source: petroleum pitch.