Bacteria-inspired Fabrication of Fe3O4-Carbon/Graphene Foam for Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes

Although lithium-ion batteries are commonly used to our daily life, achieving superior properties in low-cost is still our current challenge. Here we report the fabrication of a bacteria-inspired, micro-/nanostructured Fe3O4-carbon/graphene foam hybrid material for lithium-ion battery anodes. The process employing biological adsorption is featured with low-cost and can have mass-production. Attributed to the graphene foam substrate, the fabricated micro-/nanostructure can be directly employed as a binder-free LIB anode without the need of complex treatments. The product used as an anode delivers a high reversible capacity of 1112 mAh g−1 at the current density of 100 mA g−1 even after 200 cycles, and exhibits good rate performance. These results demonstrate fabrication and electrochemical properties of a bacteria-inspired Fe3O4-carbon/graphene foam, suggesting a facile method for making anodes to be used in high-performance lithium-ion batteries.