Optimising Hollow-Structured Silicon Nanoparticles for Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Silicon has been proven to be one of the most promising anode materials for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries for application in batteries, the Si anode should have high capacity and must be industrially scalable. In this study, we designed and synthesised a hollow structure to meet these requirements. All the processes were carried out without special equipment. The Si nanoparticles that are commercially available were used as the core sealed inside a TiO shell, with rationally designed void space between the particles and shell. The Si@TiO were characterised using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The optimised hollow-structured silicon nanoparticles, when used as the anode in a lithium-ion battery, exhibited a high reversible specific capacity over 630 mAhg, much higher than the 370 mAhg from the commercial graphite anodes. This excellent electrochemical property of the nanoparticles could be attributed to their optimised phase and unique hollow nanostructure.