Mace-like carbon fibers@Fe3O4@carbon composites as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

• Published in: Ionics Vol. 26; no. 12; pp. 5923 - 5934
• Main Authors: Yao, Shaowei, Zhang, Guifang, Zhang, Xingxiang, Shi, Zhiqiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-12-2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Anode effect; Carbon fibers; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composite materials; Condensed Matter Physics; Discharge; Electrical resistivity; Electrochemical analysis; Electrochemistry; Electrode materials; Energy Storage; Heat treatment; Iron oxides; Lithium; Lithium-ion batteries; Optical and Electronic Materials; Original Paper; Rechargeable batteries; Renewable and Green Energy; Structural design; Lithium-ion batteries; Carbon fibers; Iron oxide; Carbon coating
• ISSN: 0947-7047; 1862-0760
• DOI: 10.1007/s11581-020-03748-6

Mace-like carbon fibers@Fe
3
O
4
@carbon (CF@Fe
3
O
4
@C) composites were designed and synthesized via an in situ growth and carbon coating approach with heat treatment. In comparison with CF, Fe
2
O
3
, and CF@Fe
2
O
3
, CF@Fe
3
O
4
@C composites exhibit higher electrochemical performance as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), owing to the unique mace-like ordered structure. Mace-like CF@Fe
3
O
4
@C composites deliver a high discharge/charge specific capacities of 1368/940 mAh g
−1
at the first cycle and 741/740 mAh g
−1
at the 100th cycles at 100 mA g
−1
in the range of 0.01~2.5 V. The specific discharge capacity can still retain 503 mAh g
−1
after 500 cycles at 500 mA g
−1
. The outstanding electrochemical performance can be attributed to that carbon fibers and carbon coating improve the electrical conductivity of iron oxides and the carbon-coated layer avoids the specific capacity fading caused by volume expansion of iron oxides during charging/discharging. It provides a novel structural design strategy and an effective synthesis method of anode material for high-energy lithium-ion battery.