Porous silicon and li-ion batteries

Research for advanced Li-ion batteries (LIBs) has been following the direction toward higher energy and power densities. As an anode active material for LIBs, Si has a maximum theoretical capacity far greater than that of the currently commercial graphite anode. However, Si lithiation/de-lithiation is accompanied by large volume expansion/ contraction, leading tomechanical instability and hence fast capacity fading. Significant advancement in overcoming this problem has been demonstrated by adopting nanostructured porous Si anode materials, which contain "preset" voids to accommodate volume expansion of the Si particles so that the dimensional variations of the entire electrode layer can be mitigated. This updated review covers porous Si anode materials synthesized by different methods, including etching, magnesiothermic reaction, templating, and spraying, and the electrochemical performance of the resulting Si anode materials. ? Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018. All rights are reserved.