Functional conducting polymer binders are a class of stable, elastic, electrically conductive adhesive that makes possible the fabrication of silicon composite electrodes for a new generation of low-cost, high-capacity lithium-ion batteries. The vastly higher storage capacity of Si has not been fully realized because silicon swells up to nearly four-times its volume when the Si electrode draws in lithium ions during the charging process. This mechanical expansion and contraction quickly damage the electrode, rendering Si material useless. Functional conductive polymer binder directly addresses the volume-expansion problem by connecting the volume changing Si particles with an elastic polymer to form the anode electrode of a rechargeable lithium battery. This elastic adhesive polymer not only holds the silicon particles in place, but also stretches as those particles expand and contracts when they shrink back to their original volume. We have advanced the functional conductive polymer binder technology into its 4th generation, which is now a water based latex emulsion similar to industry standard styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) binder, but electronically conductive. The latex based emulsion system of the 4^th generation of functional conductive polymer binder ensures that the binder is low cost, and the battery manufacturing process is compatible with the current industry standard.