Alkaline chitosan solution as etching phase to design Si@SiO2@N-Carbon anode for Lithium-ion battery

In this work, an innovative efficient method is developed to fabricate a [email protected]2@N-C composite for anode material of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). We creatively etched silicon nanoparticles in the alkaline chitosan (CTS) solution to produce the SiO2 layer and then Si/SiO2/chitosan precursor was regenerated for pyrolyzation. By experimental analysis, it is confirmed that etched Si nanoparticles are successfully inlaid in the carbonized CTS matrixes. After 200 cycles at a current density of 420 mA g−1, the fabricated anode maintains a relatively high reversible discharge specific capacity of 1026 mAh g−1. This innovative efficient technique is promising to fabricate cost-efficient and environmentally-friendly LIB anode materials with satisfactory performance.