Low-temperature synthesis of graphitic carbon-coated silicon anode materials

We report the synthesis of a high-performance graphitic carbon-coated silicon (Si@GC) composite material for lithium-ion batteries via a scalable production route. Porous Si is produced from the magnesiothermic reduction of commercial silica (SiO2) precursor followed by low-temperature graphitic carbon coating using glucose as the precursor. The obtained Si@GC composite achieves an excellent reversible specific capacity of 1195 mAh g(-1) and outstanding cycle stability. The thick Si@GC anode (3.4 mg cm(-2)) in full cells with commercial lithium iron phosphate cathode delivers a remarkable performance of 800 mAh g(-1) specific capacity and 2.7 mAh cm(-2) areal capacity as well as 93.6% capacity retention after 200 cycles.