Laser sintering of silicon powder and carbon nanofibers for porous composite thick films

We attempted the laser sintering of a mixture of waste silicon powder from silicon wafer slicing processes and carbon nanofibers. Thick films with high porosity were successfully generated by a strong combination of silicon and carbon nanofibers. The surface porosity of the thick films and the crystallinity of silicon were controllable by varying the scanning speed of the laser beam. These findings indicate the feasibility of a new fabrication method for silicon anodes for future lithium-ion batteries. (C) 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics