The
solution synthetic method can produce large quantities of silicon
nanowires (SiNWs) for various applications, such as energy storage,
texturing and composites materials, etc. However, solution-grown SiNWs
exhibit very low conductivity compared to chemical vapor deposition
(CVD)-grown SiNWs due to their poor crystallinity or reaction byproducts
such as insulating polysiliane or polyphenylsilane. Here, we report
the large-scale synthesis of phosphorus-hyperdoped Si nanowires (PH-SiNWs)
with atomic ratios of the P content ranging from 1 to 2 atom % via
the tin(Sn)-seeded supercritical fluid–liquid–solid
(SFLS) through the use of red P nanoparticles as dopant precursors.
The resistivity of PH-SiNWs is 4.3 × 10–3 Ω·m,
which is about 6 orders of magnitude lower than bulk silicon (Si)
(1.86 × 103 Ω·m) and about 3 orders of
magnitude lower than intrinsic SiNWs (1.19 Ω·m). PH-SiNWs
can be assembled on fabrics used as active materials for lithium-ion
batteries, and combined with carbon nanotube fabric as current collectors,
the bilayer fabrics can be used as freestanding independent lithium-ion
battery anodes without the need for binders and additive. The PH-SiNWs/carbon
nanotube (CNT) bilayer fabric anode reaches 820 mAh g–1 after 1000 cycles at a charge/discharge rate of 2 A g–1, whereas the intrinsic SiNWs/CNT bilayer fabric only sustains its
performance at the first 20 cycles. The PH-SiNWs/CNT bilayer fabric
anode shows the first example of a solution-grown Si nanowire anode
with a 1000-cycle life. The ex situ transmission
electron microscopy (TEM) image shows that an evolved PH-SiNWs nanopore
structure was formed after the cycle, whereas the intrinsic SiNWs
anodes did not develop holes. This result can be attributed to the
uniform doping of P in the Si nanowire, which enables the formation
of nanopores for rapid lithium-ion transport tunnels.