Silicon Nanotube Battery Anodes

We present Si nanotubes prepared by reductive decomposition of a silicon precursor in an alumina template and etching. These nanotubes show impressive results, which shows very high reversible charge capacity of 3247 mA h/g with Coulombic efficiency of 89%, and also demonstrate superior capacity retention even at 5C rate (=15 A/g). Furthermore, the capacity in a Li-ion full cell consisting of a cathode of LiCoO(2) and anode of Si nanotubes demonstrates a 10 times higher capacity than commercially available graphite even after 200 cycles.This work was supported by the World Class University (WCU) program supported by National Research Foundation (NRF) and Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) of Korea