Stable silicon anodes for lithium-ion batteries using mesoporous metallurgical silicon

Extremely cheap mesoporous silicon nanowires by metal-assisted chemical etching of inexpensive metallurgical silicon have a higher porosity and thus volume expansion possibility than simple silicon nanowires. Metallurgical Si nanowires (MG-SiNWs) show a reversible capacity of about 2111 mAh g−1 at a current rate of 0.2 C, an encouraging stability of over at least 50 cycles, and a good rate capability.