Silicon anodes suffer from rapid capacity decay and interfacial instability, which remain major obstacles in designing high-energy battery systems. In this study, we propose a new anode architecture in which melamine- and pitch-derived nitrogen-doped ...
Silicon anodes suffer from rapid capacity decay and interfacial instability, which remain major obstacles in designing high-energy battery systems. In this study, we propose a new anode architecture in which melamine- and pitch-derived nitrogen-doped carbon coatings enhance both the lithiophilicity and interfacial stability of silicon particles. The optimized composition (S@P2@M1.25) exhibits the lowest increase in internal resistance compared with conventional Si electrodes, while EIS and GITT analyses confirm the formation of a stable SEI and reduced overpotential. When implemented in graphite/silicon composite electrodes, this material delivers a capacity retention of 93.52% after 200 cycles and achieves the highest lithium-metal coulombic efficiency under hybrid cycling conditions. The nitrogen-doped carbon layer further promotes uniform lithium nucleation, effectively suppressing instability during the plating/stripping process. These findings demonstrate that controlled nitrogen doping provides a viable strategy to mitigate degradation in silicon-based anodes and offers a practical route toward high-energy and high-efficiency hybrid anode systems.