A novel, economical ball milling and heat treatment of porous silicon based anodes was introduced to boost the electrochemical performance and cycle capacity of Li-ion batteries. The resultant peanut shell-like electrodes combined multiple advantageous features, including a continuous, flexible electrically conductive carbon network, a synergistic C/SiO2 coating layer and improved interfacial contact, in a peanut shell structure with void space. The electrodes achieved an initial discharge capacity of 1909 mAh g (1) with coulombic efficiency of 88.8% as well as a high reversible capacity of 1179 mAh g (1) after 120 cycles at 0.1C. In addition, the material was capable of reaching a capacity of 493 mA h g (1) even at the high charge rate of 4C. This work gives a compelling look at a novel and large-scale production method of fabricating next generation Si/C anodes for high-performance LIBs. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.