Facile mechanochemical synthesis of non-stoichiometric silica-carbon composite for enhanced lithium storage properties

A large number of new electrode materials and novel structural designs are emerging for lithium-ion batteries, yet scalable synthesis and raw material costs still hinder the practical application of such materials. Here, we designed and fabricated a low-cost SiO_x/C composite by a facile and scalable mechanofusion route with a ball-milling method. We selected aerosil and graphite precursor-needle coke, which are two widely used materials in industry, as a silicon source and carbon source, respectively. This SiO_x/C composite shows a high reversible capacity (ca. 550 mAh g⁻¹) at the 180th cycle and good rate performance. Our scalable synthesis route of electrode materials can stimulate the progress of other energy storage technologies for practical applications.