Surface engineering of sponge-like silicon particles for high-performance lithium-ion battery anodes

Surface engineering of sponge-like Si particles is necessary to alleviate the large volume expansion of Si during the lithiation–delithiation process and to mitigate the unwanted interfacial reactions upon cycling. The sponge-like Si structuring and introduction of double layers consisting of carbon and polyimide enabled us to make high performance Si anode materials exhibiting a high specific capacity and highly stable cycling.