Silicon has one of the highest specific capacities of all the potential lithium-ion battery anode materials, being able to store almost 10x more charge than the presently used graphite. Producing porous silicon (p-Si) in bulk can be achieved via the magnesiothermic reduction, however, it requires high temperatures (³650oC) to attain meaningful yields, which causes loss of porosity due to sintering, while also requiring uneconomical amounts of energy. In this presentation we will show how we removed these limits to produce p-Si at as low as 380°C. Silicon made with this method at 380°C had the highest initial capacity of 3073 mAh/g. The electrochemical performance of all samples produced at low temperatures exceeded that of those produced using the conventional method at high-temperature (≥650°C).
