Chemical bowling-assisted synthesis of Fe3O4@starch-derived carbon composites as anode materials with superior cycling stability for lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

Fe₃O₄@starch-derived carbon composites (Fe₃O₄@C-SD composites) were produced via chemical bowling, an economic and a scalable method, and a subsequent calcination with starch as the carbon resource and iron(III) nitrate as the iron resource. The Fe₃O₄@C-SD composites present an alveolate-like structure, with ultrafine Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles on the carbon framework. The Fe₃O₄@C-SD1 composite delivers a larger specific surface area of ∼132.5 m² g⁻¹, which can supply more active sites for lithium storage and benefit lithium flux across the interface. The interior hollow structure provides a void space for the volume change of Fe₃O₄ particles, thus ensuring the integrity of the electrode materials. When used as an anode material, it shows great potential in lithium storage. The specific capacity of the Fe₃O₄@C-SD1 electrode could reach 581.5 mA h g⁻¹ after 1000 cycles at a current density of 1 A g⁻¹, which indicated that the electrode exhibited an excellent cycling stability during the charge/discharge process. The synergistic effects between the carbon matrix and the Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles in the Fe₃O₄@C-SD1 composite led to the superior lithium storage performance. This above-mentioned synthetic strategy is simple, economical, scalable and controllable, thereby providing an approach for the synthesis of other composites with similar structure.