A magnesiothermic reaction process for the scalable production of mesoporous silicon for rechargeable lithium batteries

Mesoporous, 3-D, nanocrystalline Si has been synthesized via the magnesiothermic reduction of SiO particles at a peak temperature of only 500 degrees C in a scalable flow-through reactor setup. Such 3-D porous Si as an anode material exhibited high, reversible capacities (i.e., >900 mA h g(-1) after 160 charge-discharge cycles at 1000 mA g(-1)).