Anode materials with high capacity are urgently required to substitute graphite. The theoretical gravimetric and volumetric capacities of Bi2S3 are much higher than those of graphite, but the cycling performance of Bi2S3 is poor due to its large volumetric expansion. Amorphous SiO2 is mechanically rigid, which can buffer the volume change. A novel Bi2S3@SiO2 core-shell microwire is firstly designed and synthesized in this work. The composite exhibits excellent electrochemical performances. The discharge capacity is 379 mA h g(-1) after 4000 cycles at the current density of 1 A g(-1). (C) The Author(s) 2016. Published by ECS. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 License (CC BY-NC-ND, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is not changed in any way and is properly cited. For permission for commercial reuse, please email: [email protected]. All rights reserved.