High density electrochemical energy storage is of central importance for mobile power applications. The relatively low energy density and high cost associated with the current approaches to electrochemical energy storage, including various battery and supercapacitor technologies, have been the main hurdles to its more widespread application. Herein we report a new family of silicide based anode materials for high energy density metal–air primary batteries. Several intrinsic features of silicide materials including high electron capacity, high conductivity and high operating voltage make them an excellent class of materials for very high density energy storage. We show that various silicide anodes (Mg2Si, TiSi2, CoSi2 and VSi2) can exhibit excellent electrochemical performance with unparalleled capacity in both thin films and bulk powder pellet forms. With further optimization, silicide materials can promise a new battery family with ultra-high anode capacity and can open up exciting opportunities for future mobile power applications.
