The interconnected nanoporous structure of rice husks, developed in years of natural evolution for efficient cultivation of rice, can resolve important issues in silicon anode operation, enabling excellent cycling and power performance," Jang Wook Choi, an Associate Professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), who led the work, tells Nanowerk. "Given that annual global rice production reaches 700 hundred million tons, the promising battery data herein show how a part of the waste from rice husks – which reaches 20 wt% of the entire rice kernel – can be a massive resource to meet the ever-increasing demand for silicon in advanced batteries.