Incorporation of Fe3O4 nanoparticles in three-dimensional carbon nanofiber/carbon nanotube aerogels for high-performance anodes of lithium-ion batteries

Recently, Fe3O4 based materials have been widely investigated to serve as anode materials of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) because of the high theoretical capacity (924 mA h g−1). Unfortunately, the actual capacity of these materials are low and they suffer from poor cycling stability. Herein, carbon nanotube/carbon nanofiber composite aerogels (CA) were used as scaffold to fabricate Fe3O4-CA composites for anode materials. Fe3O4 nanoparticles were evenly presented on the external surface and internal channel of the 3-dimensional (3D) CA network. The 3D conductive network can buffer the volume expansion of anode materials. Additionally, such structure can prevent the aggregation of Fe3O4. Therefore, the structure of the Fe3O4-CA composite electrode can be maintained during lithiation/delithiation processes. The Fe3O4-CA composites delivered a high reversible capacity of 825.1 mA h g−1 after 100 cycles. Additionally, an ultra-high coulombic efficiency closed to 100% was obtained. The excellent performance of the Fe3O4-CA composites may be due to the synergistic effect of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles and 3D conductive network structure.