Microstructure Controlled Porous Silicon Particles as a High Capacity Lithium Storage Material via Dual Step Pore Engineering

To overcome the lithium storage barriers of current lithium-ion batteries, it is imperative that conventional low capacity graphite anodes be replaced with other higher capacity anode materials. Silicon is a promising alternative anode material due to its huge energy densities; however, its lithium-concentration-dependent volumetric changes can induce severely adverse effects that lead to drastic degradations in capacity during cycling. The dealloying of Si-metal alloys is recently suggested as a scalable approach to fabricate high-performance porous Si anode materials. Herein, a microstructure controlled porous Si is developed by the dealloying in conjunction with wet alkaline chemical etching. The resulting 3D networked structure enables enhancement in lithium storage properties when the Si-based material is applied not only as a single active material but also in a graphite-blended electrode.