In Situ Constructing of Rigid-Soft Coupling Solid–Electrolyte Interphase on Silicon Electrode toward High-Performance Lithium Ion Batteries

The application of Si anodes is hindered by some critical issues such as large volume changes of bare Si and fragile solid–electrolyte interface (SEI), resulting in low coulombic efficiency and rapid capacity decay. Herein, a multifunctional SEI film with high content of LiF is in situ constructed via the surface grafting of carbon–fluorine functionalized groups on silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) during cycling. Mechanical study demonstrates that the incorporation of LiF with high modulus and unbroken carbon–fluorine groups with highly elastic guarantee the rigid-soft coupling SEI film on Si electrode. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the rigid-soft coupling SEI film can effectively accommodate the volume expansion of Si nanoparticles during lithiation process, with the electrode expanding rate of only 114.16% after 100 cycles (263.87% for bare Si without surface modification). Afterward, with the aid of well-designed rigid-soft coupling SEI, the initial Coulomb efficiency of 89.8% is achieved, showing a reversible capacity of 1477 mAh g⁻¹ after 200 cycles at 1.2 A g⁻¹. This work provides a simple and efficient solution that can potentially facilitate the practical application of Si anodes.