Binding agents for electrochemically active materials and methods of forming the same

An electrode comprising:

• a current collector comprising one or more layers of metal;
• a composite material in electrical communication with the current collector, wherein the composite material comprises from greater than 1% to about 30% by weight of one or more types of carbon phases and from greater than 70% to about 99% by weight of electrochemically active material;
• and
• at least one phase between the composite material and the current collector, wherein the at least one phase is configured to adhere the composite material to the current collector, and wherein the at least one phase comprises a compound of the metal and the electrochemically active material;
• wherein the electrochemically active material comprises silicon particles and wherein said at least one phase is configured to bind the silicon particles together and/or the silicon particles to the one or more types of carbon phases;
• and
• wherein the median particle size of the silicon particles is in between about 0.5 μm and about 20 μm.