One-step solution combustion synthesis of Fe2O3/C nano-composites as anode materials for lithium ion batteries

This article describes a one-step solution combustion route (within 30 min at 350 °C in air) to prepare Fe2O3 anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) from Fe(NO3)3⋅9H2O solution with citric acid. XRD, SEM-EDX and TEM showed that the product consisted a mixture of nano-sized α-Fe2O3 and γ-Fe2O3 crystals that agglomerated into porous particles. Significantly, in situ formed carbon could be introduced into the product (i.e., Fe2O3/C nano-composites) by simply increasing the dosage of citric acid in the precursor solution. The as-prepared Fe2O3/C nano-composite exhibited high reversible capacities of 470 and 419 mA h g−1 at the 80th and 200th cycles with a current density of 125 mA g−1, which are much higher than those of counterparts without carbon (i.e., Fe2O3 nano-particles). Comparison experiments correlated with the performance improvement of Fe2O3/C nano-composites with in situ formed carbon, well-developed mesopores and relatively high specific surface areas.