Fabrication of core–shell, yolk–shell and hollow Fe3O4@carbon microboxes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

Hao Tian; Hao Liu; Tianyu Yang; Jean-Pierre Veder; Guoxiu Wang; Ming Hu; Shaobin Wang; Mietek Jaroniec; Jian Liu

doi:10.1039/C7QM00059F

Fabrication of core–shell, yolk–shell and hollow Fe₃O₄@carbon microboxes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries†

Hao Tian,^a Hao Liu,*^bc Tianyu Yang,^d Jean-Pierre Veder,^e Guoxiu Wang,

^c Ming Hu,

^f Shaobin Wang,^a Mietek Jaroniec

*^g and Jian Liu

*^ah

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Department of Chemical Engineering, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6845, Australia
E-mail: jian.liu@curtin.edu.au

^b School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China

^c Centre for Clean Energy Technology, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
E-mail: hao.liu@uts.edu.au

^d Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia

^e Department of Imaging and Applied Physics, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6845, Australia

^f School of Physics and Materials Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

^g Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242, USA
E-mail: jaroniec@kent.edu

^h Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, UK

Abstract

Metal oxide–carbon composites with core–shell, yolk–shell and hollow structures have attracted enormous interest because of their applications in lithium-ion batteries. However, the relationship between structure and battery performance is still unclear. Herein, we report the designed synthesis of unique core–shell, yolk–shell and hollow Fe₃O₄@carbon microboxes through a one-step Stöber coating method, followed by a carbonization process. Different calcination temperatures were investigated to manipulate the various structures, and the impact of layer thickness on the battery performance was also assessed. Our results showed that the core–shell structured Fe₃O₄@carbon microboxes with nitrogen-doped carbon shells having a thickness of 15 nm exhibited an excellent performance in lithium-ion batteries with a high reversible capacity of 857 mA h g⁻¹ that could be retained after 100 cycles at a current density of 0.1 A g⁻¹.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C7QM00059F
Article type: Research Article
Submitted: 07 Feb 2017
Accepted: 03 Mar 2017
First published: 06 Mar 2017
This article is Open Access

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Mater. Chem. Front., 2017,1, 823-830

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Fabrication of core–shell, yolk–shell and hollow Fe₃O₄@carbon microboxes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

H. Tian, H. Liu, T. Yang, J. Veder, G. Wang, M. Hu, S. Wang, M. Jaroniec and J. Liu, Mater. Chem. Front., 2017, 1, 823 DOI: 10.1039/C7QM00059F

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