Solid-solution-like ZnO/C composites as excellent anode materials for lithium ion batteries

Exploring advanced anode materials to maximize the capacity of lithium ion batteries has been an active research area for decades. Constructing composites materials has been proved to be one of the most effective methods to achieve higher capacity due to the synergistic effect. In this work, we proposed and demonstrated a concept of solid-solution-like ZnO/C composites to approach the largest possible synergistic effect by introducing the most interfaces and minimizing the pulverization. The solid-solution-like ZnO/C electrode could achieve a high reversible capacity of 813.3 mAh g−1 at a current density of 100 mA g−1 after 100 cycles with a decrease rate of only 0.4% per cycle. Moreover, the discharge capacity still maintained 53.5% of the original value even when the current density increased to 40 times as much as the original, showing a distinguished rate performance. In addition, such solid-solution-like nanofibers can be easily prepared because of their compatibility with the existing industrial PAN-based spinning process. This may pave the way to mass produce lithium ion batteries with significantly enhanced performance using existing low-cost commercial facilities and recipes.