One-Dimensional Porous Silicon Nanowires with Large Surface Area for Fast Charge–Discharge Lithium-Ion Batteries

• Main Authors: Xu Chen, Qinsong Bi, Muhammad Sajjad, Xu Wang, Yang Ren, Xiaowei Zhou, Wen Xu, Zhu Liu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-04-01
• Series: Nanomaterials
• Subjects: mesoporous structure; high surface areas; ultrafast; long-cycling life
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/8/5/285
• ISSN: 2079-4991

In this study, one-dimensional porous silicon nanowire (1D–PSiNW) arrays were fabricated by one-step metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) to etch phosphorus-doped silicon wafers. The as-prepared mesoporous 1D–PSiNW arrays here had especially high specific surface areas of 323.47 m2·g−1 and were applied as anodes to achieve fast charge–discharge performance for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). The 1D–PSiNWs anodes with feature size of ~7 nm exhibited reversible specific capacity of 2061.1 mAh·g−1 after 1000 cycles at a high current density of 1.5 A·g−1. Moreover, under the ultrafast charge–discharge current rate of 16.0 A·g−1, the 1D–PSiNWs anodes still maintained 586.7 mAh·g−1 capacity even after 5000 cycles. This nanoporous 1D–PSiNW with high surface area is a potential anode candidate for the ultrafast charge–discharge in LIBs with high specific capacity and superior cycling performance.