Synthesis of Fe2O3 in situ on the surface of mesoporous carbon from alginate as a high-performance anode for lithium-ion batteries

• Published in: Materials letters Vol. 205; pp. 10 - 14
• Main Authors: Zhang, Tao, Zhu, Chengling, Shi, Yishan, Li, Yao, Zhu, Shenmin, Zhang, Di
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier BV 15-10-2017
• Subjects: Carbon; Energy storage; Finite element method; Hematite; Iron oxides; Lithium-ion batteries; Materials science; Nanoparticles; Particulate composites; Rechargeable batteries; Sodium; Sodium alginate; Synthesis; Transition metal oxides
• ISSN: 0167-577X; 1873-4979
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matlet.2017.06.020

Inspired by the complexation of sodium alginate, we demonstrate here a facile approach for the formation of Fe2O3 in situ on the surface of mesoporous carbon (Fe2O3-MC) from alginate. The freeze-dried iron alginate gel (FeA) is converted into mesoporous carbon loaded with Fe2O3nanoparticles after calcination in vacuum. When used as anode in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the obtained Fe2O3-MC composite shows a high reversible capacity of 703 mAh g-1 after 50 cycles at 100 mA g-1. At a much high current density of 2 A g-1, the anode based on Fe2O3-MC still exhibits a higher reversible capacity (384 mAh g-1) than that of the commercially used graphite. The strategy provides a promising facile synthesis route for the fabrication of transition metal oxide-mesoporous carbon composites, which have great potential applications in energy storage.