Si/carbon nanotube (CNT) nanocomposites are ideal anode materials for lithium ion batteries with high specific capacities. However, it has been a significant challenge to fabricate uniform Si/CNT nanocomposite anodes with high areal capacities, say above 0.4 mA h cm⁻². In this paper, we demonstrate a layer-by-layer assembling technique as a facile and scalable method to prepare a multilayer Si/CNT coaxial nanofiber anode which possesses an areal storage capacity above 1 mA h cm⁻². In addition, the prepared Si/CNT coaxial nanofiber anodes show an excellent cyclability. The excellent performance of the Si/CNT coaxial nanofiber multilayer anodes is attributed to the unique nanostructure. The CNT network matrix offers mechanical support to accommodate the stress associated with the large volume change of Si coating and the nanoporous multilayer structure provides continuous paths for Li ion and electron transport.

We present novel light weight three dimensional soft silicon anodes for flexible and stretchable lithium ion batteries. We employ a coaxial flexible Ni/PVDF nanofiber network as the freestanding current collector and active amorphous silicon coating to form a core–shell structure of Si/Ni/PVDF nanofibers. The soft silicon anodes show high specific capacities and good cycling life. We have demonstrated that a soft battery with the freestanding Si/Ni/PVDF membrane as an anode is capable of powering a LED at different bending states.

Hierarchical three-dimensional carbon nanowire arrays on carbon cloth have been developed as an efficient flexible nanostructure current collector for TiO₂ based anodes.