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The structural, thermal, electrical and mechanical properties of fully dense B4C ceramics, sintered using Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS), were studied and compared to the properties of B4C ceramics previously published in the literature. New results on B4C’s mechanical responses were obtained by nanoindentation and ring-on-ring biaxial strength testing. The findings contribute to a more complete knowledge of the properties of B4C ceramics, an important material in many industrial applications. 

Abstract The metallic tin (Sn) anode is a promising candidate for next‐generation lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) due to its high theoretical capacity and electrical conductivity. However, Sn suffers from severe mechanical degradation caused by large volume changes during lithiation/delithiation, which leads to a rapid capacity decay for LIBs application. Herein, a Cu–Sn (e.g., Cu₃Sn) intermetallic coating layer (ICL) is rationally designed to stabilize Sn through a structural reconstruction mechanism. The low activity of the Cu–Sn ICL against lithiation/delithiation enables the gradual separation of the metallic Cu phase from the Cu–Sn ICL, which provides a regulatable and appropriate distribution of Cu to buffer volume change of Sn anode. Concurrently, the homogeneous distribution of the separated Sn together with Cu promotes uniform lithiation/delithiation, mitigating the internal stress. In addition, the residual rigid Cu–Sn intermetallic shows terrific mechanical integrity that resists the plastic deformation during the lithiation/delithiation. As a result, the Sn anode enhanced by the Cu–Sn ICL shows a significant improvement in cycling stability with a dramatically reduced capacity decay rate of 0.03% per cycle for 1000 cycles. The structural reconstruction mechanism in this work shines a light on new materials and structural design that can stabilize high‐performance and high‐volume‐change electrodes for rechargeable batteries and beyond.