Electrospun pitch/polyacrylonitrile composite carbon nanofibers as high performance anodes for lithium-ion batteries

• A composite nanofibers were prepared by simple electrospinning method.
• The obtained CNFs web were flexible and bendable.
• The CNFs were studied as free-standing and binder-free anode for Li-ion batteries.
• The CNFs shows good cycling and high rate performance.

A new kind of soft carbon and hard carbon composite nanofibers were fabricated from isotropic pitch and polyacrylonitrile via simple electrospinning followed by stabilization and carbonization. The obtained fibrous mat was directly used as anodes of lithium-ion batteries without binder added and current collector. The composite nanofibers electrodes display a large reversible capacity of 452 mA h g−1 at a current density of 20 mA g−1 and a capacity of 255 mA h g−1 at 200 mA g−1 after 200 cycles. The improved electrochemical performance can be attributed to the unique fibrous structure which will facilitate electrons and ions transfer and the porous structure which will accommodate quantities of lithium ions.