Poly(aniline-co-anthranilic acid) as an electrically conductive and mechanically stable binder for high-performance silicon anodes

We develop poly(aniline-co-anthranilic acid), PAAA, as a new electrically conductive and mechanically stable polymeric binder material for silicon anodes. In contrast to the electrically conductive but poorly Si-adhering polyaniline, the PAAA copolymer, which is designed to consist of anthranilic acid units as well as aniline units, is found to adhere to Si strongly in addition to being electrically conductive, and is hence able to be used alone for the production of the silicon anode. Various PAAA copolymers having different relative amounts of anthranilic acid are prepared to investigate the effect of anthranilic acid on the electrical and physical properties of the corresponding electrodes. The copolymer whose composition is 50% aniline and 50% anthranilic acid displays the best cell performance due to the most balanced electrical conductivity and physical properties, with a specific capacity of 1946 mAh g(-1) at the 50th cycle, which represents a retention of 81.6% of the initial capacity, on a high mass loading electrode of 1.5 mg cm(-2). (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.