Silicon, one of the most promising anodes, has been facing challenges to improve continuous increased electrode expansion during the cycles, resulting in a deteriorated conducting network between the particles from the accelerated side reactions with the electrolytes and inferior long-term cycle performance of the graphite counterpart for practical application. Herein, we demonstrated an easy and scalable synthesis of Si nanoparticles in the carbon-coated and interconnected α-FeSi2 matrix where α-FeSi2 acts as a buffer matrix for the expansion of adjacent Si, and the uniformly-coated carbon surface layer on the α-FeSi2 matrix enhances conductivity and reduces the side reaction of electrolyte and structural degradation. Our results reveal that the α-FeSi2/Si/carbon (FSC) exhibits better electrochemical properties in the lithium-ion cell compared to α-FeSi2/Si (FS), benchmarking samples of α-FeSi2/Si (BM-FS) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) grown FS (BM-FS/CNT). The FSC anode in the full cell with the areal capacity and electrode density of anodes of 2.25 mAh cm−2 and 1.7 g cc−1, respectively, exhibited quite a comparable capacity retention to a graphite counterpart, showing 83 % at a rate of 0.7C charging /0.5C discharging rate between 4.4 and 3 V after 200 cycles.
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