Molten-salt chemical exfoliation process for preparing Si layered structure as anode for lithium-ion batteries

Lithium ion batteries are becoming a key-enabling technology for electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles[1].Silicon (Si)-based compounds, such as SiLi4.4, are among the possible alternatives and have shown high capacity values as anode materials (4200 mA h g−1). One drawback associated with Si-based materials is structural decomposition in conjunction with volume expansion during charge/discharge cyclin .Furthermore, Si-based materials having different structures and compositions have also been investigated as a means of preventing this structural damage[2].