Fabrication of Well-Aligned, Multi-Layered Cu/Si Nanorods Array and Its Use As Anode for Lithium Ion Batteries

Two multilayered Cu/Si thin films (flat and well-aligned structured) were prepared by using an electron-beam evaporation deposition. An oblique angle deposition was used to form a well aligned, multi-layered Cu/Si nanorods array in the thin film. Galvanostatic half-cell measurement showed that the well aligned multi-layered Cu/Si nanorods containing thin film anode exhibited a moderate capacity for 100 cycles due the particularities in its structure and morphology: The structural analysis demonstrated that Cu in the films buffered the mechanical stress occurred during lithiation and enhanced the electrical conductivity in the film. The morphological observation revealed the importance of the inclined nanorods since they increased the contact area of the anode with Li, decreased the polarization and enhanced the mechanical tolerance against the volumetric changes due to the homogenously distributed nanosized interspaces among them.