Rigid bolaform surfactant templated mesoporous silicon nanofibers as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

Mesoporous silicon nanofibers were synthesised by magnesiothermic reduction of earthworm-like, lamellar structured silica nanotubes for use in developing highly efficient lithium ion batteries. The silica nanotubes resulted from the single-molecular-layer arrangement of a bolaamphiphile surfactant. The calcined mesoporous silica nanotubes transformed into mesoporous silicon nanofibers (nf-Si) after magnesiothermic reduction. Finally, carbon-layer-coated silicon nanofibers (nf-Si@C) were obtained by chemical vapour deposition (CVD), which displayed a stable capacity of approximately 1141 mA h g⁻¹ over 100 cycles at 0.2 C.