Large-scale fabrication, 3D tomography, and lithium-ion battery application of porous silicon

Recently, silicon-based lithium-ion battery anodes have shown encouraging results, as they can offer high capacities and long cyclic lifetimes. The applications of this technology are largely impeded by the complicated and expensive approaches in producing Si with desired nanostructures. We report a cost-efficient method to produce nanoporous Si particles from metallurgical Si through ball-milling and inexpensive stain-etching. The porosity of porous Si is derived from particle's three-dimensional reconstructions by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) tomography, which shows the particles' highly porous structure when etched under proper conditions. Nanoporous Si anodes with a reversible capacity of 2900 mAh/g was attained at a charging rate of 400 mA/g, and a stable capacity above 1100 mAh/g was retained for extended 600 cycles tested at 2000 mA/g. The synthetic route is low-cost and scalable for mass production, promising Si as a potential anode material for the next-generation lithium-ion batteries with enhanced capacity and energy density.