The radical change in the global economy demands lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with improved energy density to meet the needs of existing and anticipated applications in consumer electronics, electric vehicles, grid-scale energy storage, etc. Among the numerous anode materials reported during the last several decades as a potential alternative to graphite, silicon is considered as the most promising material with high theoretical capacity (4200 mAh g- 1) and moderate operating voltage (< 0.5 V vs. Li/Li+). Silicon, being the second most abundant element on earth’s crust (28% of the crust’s mass) can serve as cost-effective and environmentally benign anode material for LIBs than the other anodes used in commercial LIBs. Silicon anodes have issues of volume expansion-contraction during cycling, which causes (nano)material pulverization and subsequently capacity fade. The poor capacity retention and cycling instability of silicon, impede its deployment as anode material for LIBs. Herein, we depict the fundamental material challenges of silicon anode and their mitigation strategies. This chapter presents the nano-engineering efforts to achieve a rational design of nanostructured silicon electrodes with excellent electrochemical performance and stability by giving a special emphasis on nanostructured three dimensional electrode architectures of silicon. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.