Thick-film electrodes of Si particles coated with Ni Ni-Sn and Ni-P were fabricated by electroless deposition followed by gas deposition to form the anode of a Li-ion battery The electrode of Ni-coated Si showed remarkably Improved cycling performance with a discharge capacity of 580 mA h g(-1) at the 1000th cycle which is possibly caused by its higher elastic modulus than that of the uncoated Si electrode The electrode of Si coated with Ni-P which consisted of Ni3P with the lower coating amount exhibited a higher initial capacity and excellent cycling performance with a capacity of 790 mA h g(-1) at the 1000th cycle whereas poor performance was obtained for the electrode of Si coated with Ni-Sn The excellent performance in the case of Ni-P coating is attributed to the smaller amount of coating the high elastic modulus and the lower reactivity of Ni3P with Li ions in comparison with Ni3Sn in Ni-Sn (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved