Nitrogen-doped mesoporous hollow carbon nanoflowers as high performance anode materials of lithium ion batteries

Abstract

Nitrogen-doped mesoporous hollow carbon nanoflowers (N-HCNF) are successfully prepared by a facile hard-template route via a hydrothermal process, subsequent carbonization and etching. The as-synthesized N-HCNF has high specific surface area (507.5 m² g⁻¹) and unique nanostructure, which make N-HCNF a potential anode material for lithium ion batteries. In the electrochemical test, the as-prepared N-HCNF exhibit high specific capacity, markedly improve cycle stability, and enhance rate performance compared with nitrogen-doped hollow carbon nanorods (N-HCNR) and hollow carbon nanoflowers (HCNF). The as-prepared N-HCNF displays a reversible specific capacity of 528 mA h g⁻¹ after 1000 cycles at 2C. N-HCNF shows the excellent rate performance and the stable capacity of N-HCNF maintains 298 mA h g⁻¹ at 10C. The significant electrochemical property improvements of N-HCNF are attributed to the large BET surface area, N-doped carbon shell and unique 3D hollow nanostructure of N-HCNF.