Silicon nanowires are promising high capacity anode materials for next generation lithium-ion batteries. We show that a conductive polymer coating can significantly increase the capacity retention with cycling. The polymer coating was applied via an electrochemical polymerization process, and the resulting polymer-Si hybrid nanostructures were characterized with electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This organic-inorganic hybrid approach represents a facile method for

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... ng the performance of alloying anodes for Li-ion batteries. This journal is