Fig. 5: Electrochemical performance of the SSC negative electrode.

a Cycling performance of the SC and the SSC negative electrodes. The charge/discharge specific current is 0.075 A g⁻¹ for the first two cycles and 0.75 A g⁻¹ for later cycles. Capacity retention is defined as the ratio of specific capacity in the final cycle to that in the third cycle. b, d The corresponding charge-discharge profiles of SSC-based (b) and SC-based (d) cells from 3rd to 100th cycles. Capacity retention is defined as the ratio of specific capacity in the final cycle to that in the third cycle. c Comparisons of the initial Coulombic efficiency versus capacity decay rate between this work and previously reported representative results (refer to Supplementary Table 3). The capacity decay rate is defined as the ratio of the relative capacity loss (defined as the difference between the post-activation and final specific capacities normalized to the post-activation specific capacity) to the total number of cycles. e Cycling performance of Ah-level SSC-blended graphite||NCM811 pouch cell. The charge/discharge current is 2 A charging and 2 A discharging in 3–4.2 V for 1700 cycles. The inset image shows the cyclic CE, and the inset photo shows the assembled pouch cell. Capacity retention is defined as the ratio of capacity in the final cycle to that in the third cycle. f The rate performance of Ah-level SSC-blended graphite||NCM811 pouch cell under different currents from 1 A to 12 A. Capacity retention is defined as the ratio of capacity at 12 A to that at 1 A. g Corresponding charge-discharge profiles of SSC-blended graphite||NCM811 pouch cell under different currents from 1 A to 12 A.