Molten Salt Derived Graphene‐Like Carbon Nanosheets Wrapped SiOx/Carbon Submicrospheres with Enhanced Lithium Storage†.

Main observation and conclusion: There is no doubt that SiOx and carbon composite is one of the promising anode materials for lithium‐ion batteries owing to its high capacity and rational cycling stability. Herein, we report a sol‐gel synthesis followed by molten salt carbonization route to fabricate graphene‐like carbon nanosheet wrapped SiOx/C submicrospheres (SiOx/C@2D‐C). The in‐situ generated carbon nanosheets under molten salt condition can further improve the electroconductivity, restrain the volumetric expansion and guarantee the structural integrity of the electrode. As a result, the as‐obtained SiOx/C@2D‐C delivers a discharge capacity of 559 mAh·g−1 at 0.5 A·g−1 after 200 cycles and 548 mAh·g–1 at 1.0 A·g−1 even after 1000 cycles. The full cell assembled with SiOx/C@2D‐C as anode and commercial LiFePO4 as cathode can achieve an energy density of 200 Wh·kg−1 and maintain a capacity of 66.7% after 100 cycles with a working potential of 2.8 V. The approach is simple and cost effective, which is promising for mass production of SiOx‐based materials for high energy LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]