Construction of yolk--shell Fe₃O₄@C nanocubes for highly stable and efficient lithium-ion storage

Abstract

The yolk–shell Fe₃O₄@C nanocubes were successfully synthesized through carbothermic reduction process from carbon-coated α-Fe₂O₃ precursor. The results show that the yolk–shell Fe₃O₄@C nanocubes are uniformly coated with a thin carbon layer, and a clear cavity about 150 nm in width between Fe₃O₄ core and carbon shell are formed due to the volume shrinkage during the reduction treatment. The obtained yolk–shell Fe₃O₄@C nanocubes exhibit excellent cycling stability (the discharge capacity is 709.7 mA·h/g after 100 cycles at the current density of 0.1C) and rate performance (1023.4 mA·h/g at 0.1C, 932.5 mA·h/g at 0.2C, 756.1 mA·h/g at 0.5C, 405.6 mA·h/g at 1C, and 332.3 mA·h/g at 2C, and more importantly, when the current density finally backs to 0.1C, a capacity of 776.8 mA·h/g can be restored). The outstanding lithium storage properties may be attributed to the unique yolk–shell structures.

Keywords

Fe ₃O ₄ / yolk--shell / nanocube / anode / lithium storage

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