A Mini Review: Nanostructured Silicon-based Materials for Lithium Ion Battery

It is necessary to develop high-energy-density and long cycle lithium (Li)-ion batteries so as to meet the requirements for electric vehicles. As one of anode materials, silicon (Si) has attracted most attention since it not only has 10 times higher specific capacity than traditional commercial carbon anodes, but also is cheap, abundant and environmentally benign. However, the poor cycling stability and low efficiency of Si anode due to the large volume change during the insertion and extraction of Li ion, has greatly limited its application. This review outlines the challenges of Si anode, and then provides series solutions to overcome these problems successfully. We hope that this review could extend to the building for the potential new Si-based anode materials.