Electrospun porous silicon from disproportionated SiO, for realization of a high-performance lithium ion battery anode material

Silicon-based anode materials are of great importance in today's lithium-ion battery (LIB) industry. This paper is the first report on the electrospinning of silica-etched disproportionated SiO as an anode material for LIBs. A thermal annealing at 950 O C in an argon ambient on ball-milled SiO powder has been performed to obtain disproportionated SiO. A consequent HF-etching results in a porous silicon-based structure, which has been electrospun with PAN to prepare the electrode material. Implementing the fabricated electrode in LIB half-cell configuration an initial Columbic efficiency of 77.49 %, first cycle specific capacity of 3396mAh/gSi and 80 % capacity retention in 132 cycles have been achieved. The rate capability test shows a recovered capacity of 97.70 % at low current rate of 0.1 C and 54.98 % at a high current of 3 C. The cycling performance of the electrode from silica-etched disproportionated SiO has also been compared with silicon nano powder-based electrode with similar fabrication process, showing 43 % improvement in cycle life for the former electrode. These results, along with the simplicity, cost effectiveness and scalability of the fabrication process, proposes the electrospun porous silicon synthesized from disproportionated SiO as an excellent anode for high performance LIBs.