Issue 38, 2018

A review of magnesiothermic reduction of silica to porous silicon for lithium-ion battery applications and beyond

Abstract

Increasing demands for portable power applications are pushing conventional battery chemistries to their theoretical limits. Silicon has potential as an anode material to increase lithium-ion cell capacity. The associated volume change during lithiation/delithiation leads to a decline in capacity during cycling and low lithium diffusion rates within silicon limit high rate performance. Porous silicon can potentially address the poor cyclability and rate capabilities simultaneously by minimising stresses and providing smaller silicon substructures for lithium diffusion. Template assisted synthesis and magnesiothermic reduction of silica to silicon offers a facile and scalable route for the production of porous silicon structures even when using a non-porous feedstock. This review collates the available literature concerning the effects of reaction conditions through the reduction reaction. We highlight that it is important to report in detail all reaction conditions and complete characterisation of both the reactant and the product. The battery performance of these porous silicon structures is discussed and future research directions are identified. These outcomes will enable the identification of a clear design pathway for the bespoke production of porous silicon.

Graphical abstract: A review of magnesiothermic reduction of silica to porous silicon for lithium-ion battery applications and beyond

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
03 Jul 2018
Accepted
08 Aug 2018
First published
11 Sep 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2018,6, 18344-18356

A review of magnesiothermic reduction of silica to porous silicon for lithium-ion battery applications and beyond

J. Entwistle, A. Rennie and S. Patwardhan, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2018, 6, 18344 DOI: 10.1039/C8TA06370B

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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