Normally, when a scientist spends a good portion of their life
in a lab, trying to engineer a technological breakthrough, the
last they want is to see that work destroyed. But as researchers
at Rice University recently discovered, crushing their previous
work can sometimes be the only way to make progress. A Rice team
has been trying to refine silicon-based lithium-ion battery
technology. According to the researchers, silicon can hold 10
times more lithium ions than the graphite commonly used in
anodes today. Sounds great, right? But there’s a problem:
silicon expands when completely lithiated, sometimes to more
than three times its original size. Over time, this repeated
swelling and shrinking causes silicon to quickly break down. In
previous research, Rice University scientists created
nanostructured silicon with a high surface-to-volume ratio,
which allows the silicon to accommodate a larger volume
expansion. In current research, Rice engineer Sibani Lisa Biswal
and research scientist Madhuri Thakur tried