Silicon, due to its high theoretical capacity and abundant resources, has emerged as a potential anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, it suffers from intrinsic capacity decay and rapid degradation, coupled with huge volume expansion that leads to unstable growth of solid electrolyte interface (SEI). Here, we present a straightforward method to construct yolk–shell (YS)-Si/SiO₂-Ti@C materials with YS structure by reducing titanium silicalite-1 (TS-1) with magnesium and altering depositing carbon sequence. Besides, the intermediate space can effectively accommodate the expansion of internal silicon nanoparticles. TiO₂ structural units anchored in the silica alleviate stress–strain in the Si nanoparticles to enhance the cycling stability. The obtained YS-Si/SiO₂-Ti@C composites anode exhibits exceptional reversible capacity and cycling stability compared to YS-Si/SiO₂@C (without TiO₂) and commercial Si electrodes. Notably, the YS-Si/SiO₂-Ti@C composite anode achieves a high specific capacity (1290 mAh·g⁻¹ after 200 cycles at 0.8 A·g⁻¹) and a stable SEI film. Specially, the YS-Si/SiO₂-Ti@C electrode delivers impressive capacity of 1590, 1521, 1222, and 646 mAh·g⁻¹ at 0.8, 2, 4, and 8 A·g⁻¹, respectively. This study paves an avenue for addressing challenge of drastic volume change in silicon during lithiation/delithiation process to improve cycling stability of LIBs.

The chlorine evolution reaction (CER) is a crucial step in the production of chlorine gas and active chlorine by chlor-alkali electrolysis. Currently, the endeavor to fabricate electrodes capable of yielding high current density at minimal overpotential remains a central challenge in advancing the realm of chlorine evolution reactions. Here, we grow TiO₂ and RuO₂ on MXene@carbon cloth (CC) through the favorable affinity and induced deposition effect between the surface functional groups of MXene and the metal. A self-supported electrode (RuTiO₂/MXene@CC) with strong binding at the electrocatalyst–support interface and weak adhesion at electrocatalyst–bubble interface is constructed. The RuTiO₂/MXene@CC can reduce the electron density of RuO₂ by regulating the electron redistribution at the heterogeneous interface, thus enhancing the adsorption of Cl⁻. RuTiO₂/MXene@CC could achieve a high current density of 1000 mA·cm⁻² at a small overpotential of 220 mV, superior to commercial dimensionally stable anodes (DSA). This study provides a new strategy for constructing efficient CER catalysts at high current density.