Li-storage of Fe3O4/C composite prepared by one-step carbothermal reduction method

The Fe3O4/C is prepared by novel and cost effective carbothermal reduction method from commercial Fe2O3 and characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and high resolution-transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). Li-storage behaviour of Fe3O4/C has been evaluated by galvanostatic discharge–charge cycling and cyclic voltammetry (CV) in cells with Li-metal as counter electrode in the range of 0.005–3.0 V at ambient temperature. Results show that a high initial first cycle reversible capacity of 910 (±10) mA h g−1 (∼7.9 mol of Li per mole of Fe3O4) is achieved when cycled at 60 mA g−1 and remained as 740 (±10) mA h g−1 (∼6.43 mol of Li) at the end of 60 cycles. In this material, conductive carbon introduced during synthesis not only adds to the conductivity to the composite, but also alleviate the volume change during cycling. The Coulombic efficiency is found to be >96% in the range of 10–60 cycles. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) are carried out to complement the galvanostatic cycling data. The experimental results suggest that composite Fe3O4/C has the potential to provide large and almost stable capacity for practical applications, and good opportunity for large scale synthesis using Fe2O3, which is commercially available.

► Fe3O4/C composite was prepared by novel carbothermal reduction method.
► This is one-step, easy, low cost process and can be scalable for large amount.
► The precursor used for the synthesis are cheap, eco-friendly, and largely available.
► Fe3O4/C showed superior Li-storage due to carbon introduced during synthesis.
► We reported electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to support reaction mechanism.