Slurry preparation in a citric-acid-buffered aqueous solution at low pH has been established as a viable strategy for tackling the poor capacity retention of silicon electrodes. A number of studies ascribed the improved capacity retention to the formation of a silyl ester between the Si surface and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC-Na). Most recent findings suggest that the citric acid itself interacts with the Si surface. Moreover, cross-linking reactions between the carboxylic acid and the binder can occur. In order to provide a comprehensive overview and to gain a better understanding of the reactions on the Si surface during slurry preparation, we review here previous results and interpretations and revisit earlier infrared (IR) studies, whose findings we link to our own IR studies of the impact of the slurry components, individually and combined. Specifically, we studied the interactions between the carboxylic acid, CMC-Na and Si particles, with the aim to clarify the effects of different amounts of carboxyl groups in carboxylic acids, namely glycolic, malic and citric acids with 1, 2 and 3 carboxyl groups, respectively. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the capacity retention of Si electrodes can be improved considerably with any of the acids studied.