Synthesis of high-quality mesoporous silicon particles for enhanced lithium storage performance

Silicon has been considered as one of the most promising anode materials for high-capacity lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to its ultrahigh theoretical capacity, abundance, and environmentally benign nature. Nonetheless, the severe break during the prolonged cycling results in poor electrochemical performance, which hinders its practical application. Herein, we report the synthesis of novel mesoporous silicon particles with a facile template method by using a magnesiothermic reduction for LIBs. The obtained silicon nanoparticles are highly porous with densely porous cavities (20–40 nm) on the wall, of which it presents good crystallization. Electrochemical measurements showed that the mesoporous silicon nanoparticles delivered a high reversible specific capacity of 910 mA h g⁻¹ at a high current density of 1200 mA g⁻¹ over 50 cycles. The specific capacity at such high current density is still over twofold than that of commercial graphite anode, suggesting that the nanoporous Si architectures is suitable for high-performance Si-based anodes for lithium ion batteries in terms of capacity, cycle life, and rate capacity.