Simplified Synthesis of Biomass Derived Si/C Composite as a Stable Anode Material for Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Synthesis of silicon/carbon (Si/C) by biomass resources enables the effective utilization of agricultural products in battery industries because of economical as well as environmental considerations. Herein, a simplified process was developed to synthesize Si/C from biomass, using low-cost agricultural by-products "rice husk (RH)" as a model. This process includes the calcination of RH for SiO2/C and the reduction of SiO2/C by Al in molten salts at a moderate temperature. This process does not need the removal of carbon before the thermal reduction of SiO 2 , which is thought to be very necessary to avoid the formation of SiC at elevated temperatures. So carbon derived from biomass can be directly used for Si/C as the anode material. The resultant Si/C shows a high reversible capacity of 1309 mAh g -1 and long cycle life (300 cycles). Our research advocates a new and simplified strategy for the synthesis of RH-biomass-derived Si/C, which is beneficial for low-cost, environment-friendly and green energy storage applications.