MIPT: A way to extend the operation of high-capacity lithium-ion batteries with a silicon anode

Main article: Lithium-ion batteries (Li-ion)

2026: Introduction of a way to extend the operation of high-capacity lithium-ion batteries with a silicon anode

Scientists at the Institute of Electric Propulsion of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have found a simple and technological way to significantly extend the operation of high-capacity lithium-ion batteries with a silicon anode - instead of a solid metal substrate, use copper foil with holes. The work will greatly reduce the cost and scale the production of compact and energy-intensive batteries. The university announced this on February 12, 2026.

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Фото: MIPT

Electric vehicles, drones, portable electronics - all these devices are powered by lithium-ion batteries. Their capacity is already reaching a theoretical limit, and the need for energy is only growing.

It is quite possible to go beyond this limit if you replace the traditional graphite anode with a silicon anode. Its theoretical capacity is almost ten times higher, it charges quickly, works at low temperatures and allows you to create thin and compact devices. But its use is limited due to rapid degradation during charging and discharging. When silicon particles absorb and give away lithium ions, the anode swells strongly, increases in volume three to four times, and then contracts. This quickly leads to cracks and peeling, and the battery fails.

The solution was found by MIPT scientists: they changed not the composition of the anode, but the design of its current-collecting substrate. Instead of solid metal, they used perforated copper foil with holes of 250 and 500 micrometers in diameter.

{{quote 'The accumulated experience of scientists from all over the world suggested that it is possible to extend the life of batteries with a silicon anode, for example, using spongy metal substrates with a complex three-dimensional structure. But it is expensive to produce them, and it is technologically difficult to introduce them into mass production. We found another, very simple and easily scalable option - to perforate the copper foil before applying electrode material to it. This forms the three-dimensional structure of the anode we need with an active silicon-graphite composite penetrating the conductive metal sheet. This design is much more stable than a conventional electrode, where the active anode material is laid in an even layer on different sides of the current collector,

• said Valery Krivetsky, head of the laboratory of engineering and technologies of chemical current sources of MIPT.

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Фото: MIPT

Experiments showed: the replacement of solid copper foil with foil with holes allowed to maintain the capacity of the silicon-containing anode from 60 to 90% after 100 charge-discharge cycles. A similar effect was achieved with a quadruple increase in discharge current. Moreover, the smaller the diameter of the hole, the more pronounced the stabilization effect turned out to be.

{{quote 'We do not yet fully understand how perforated foil allows you to stabilize the work of silicon-containing anodes. This is most likely influenced by the mechanical properties of such an interpenetrating structure, and the impregnation of the porous film with electrolyte, and the distribution of binding components, and their strong connection to the substrate. Perhaps the active material that penetrates the holes in the foil acts as "stitches" and firmly binds both sides of the electrode to each other. This prevents her from peeling off, added Olesya Karakulina, senior researcher at the MIPT Laboratory of Engineering and Chemical Current Source Technologies. }}

You can introduce innovation into production now, because scientists specifically used only commercially available materials and equipment that are often found in production.