Life Cycle Assessment of Graphite, Silicon Composite, and Silicon‐Dominant Anodes for Lithium‐Ion Batteries: Environmental Impacts, Uncertainties, and Supply Chain Considerations

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are essential for applications from portable devices to electric vehicles, where higher specific energy and energy density drive innovation. As cathode research moves toward cobalt-free formulations, anode development focuses on incorporating silicon into graphite. Although silicon production is more energy-intensive than synthetic graphite, its superior theoretical capacity (4200 vs. 372 mAh g−1) reduces the material demand for equivalent electrochemical performance. This study assessed the environmental impacts of producing and testing three anode types, graphite (benchmark, ∼350 mAh g−1), silicon composite (10% Si, ∼400 mAh g−1), and silicon-dominant (80% Si, capacity limited at ∼1000 mAh g−1) using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) at laboratory scale. Results indicated that introducing silicon leads to lower impacts under the investigated conditions across most of the 18 midpoint categories of ReCiPe 2016 (H). Regarding the carbon footprint, CO2 emissions decreased by about 40% (from 1.33 to 0.79 kg CO2-Eq) for the silicon composite and up to 97% (0.04 kg CO2-Eq) for the silicon-dominant electrode. Sensitivity analysis highlighted the importance of supply-chain conditions: adopting a European electricity mix and shorter transport distances led to additional reductions even at gram-scale production. Overall, integrating silicon and optimizing regional supply chains promoted more sustainable LIB production.