Batteries are commonly considered one of the key technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions caused by the transport, power, and industry sectors. We need to remember that not only the production of energy needs to be realized sustainably, but also the technologies for energy storage need to follow the green guidelines to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases effectively. To reach the sustainability goals, we have to make batteries with the performances beyond their present capabilities concerning their lifetime, reliability, and safety. To be commercially viable, the technologies, materials, and chemicals utilized in batteries must support scalability that enables cost-effective large-scale production. As lithium-ion battery (LIB) is still the prevailing technology of the rechargeable batteries for the next ten years, the most practical approach to obtain batteries with better performance is to develop the chemistry and materials utilized in LIBs—especially in terms of safety and commercialization. To this end, silicon is the most promising candidate to obtain ultra-high performance on the anode side of the cell as silicon gives the highest theoretical capacity of the anode exceeding ten times the one of graphite. By balancing the other components in the cell, it is realistic to increase the overall capacity of the battery by 100%–200%. However, the exploitation of silicon in LIBs is anything else than a simple task due to the severe material-related challenges caused by lithiation/delithiation during battery cycling. The present review makes a comprehensive overview of the latest studies focusing on the utilization of nanosized silicon as the anode material in LIBs.

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A plum pudding-like Fe(3)O(4)/Fe/carbon composite was synthesized by a sol-gel polymerization followed by a heat-treatment process and characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopic analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and electrochemical test. In this composite, uniform spherical Fe(3)O(4)/Fe nanoparticles of about 100 nm were embedded into carbon matrix with high monodispersion. As-prepared Fe(3)O(4)/Fe/carbon composite electrode exhibits a stable and reversible capacity of over 600 mA h g(-1) at a current of 50 mA g(-1) between 0.002 V and 3.0 V, as well as excellent rate capability. The plum pudding-like structure, in which trace Fe promotes conductivity and carbon matrix mediates the volume change, can enhance the cycling performance and rate capability of Fe(3)O(4) electrode. This unique structure is valuable for the preparation of other electrode materials.

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