Vermiculite derived porous silicon nanosheet as a scalable and low cost anode material for lithium ion batteries
Abstract Silicon is considered to be a promising candidate as the anode material for next generation lithium ion batteries. However, Si based material is still facing great challenge to be commercialized due to the unsatisfied cycle life and rate capability. Here, we demonstrate a facile and low cost method to prepare two dimension (2D) silicon nanosheets from natural vermiculite, which is an earth abundant non metallic mineral with stratified structure. The obtained porous 2D silicon material (Ver Si) exhibits promising electrochemical performance with a reversible capacity of 900 mAh g 1 and high capacity retention. The promising electrochemical performance is originated from the unique 2D mesoporous structure, which can facilitate charge (Li ion and electron) transportation and electrolyte penetration, as well as accommodate the volume changes during cycling.