Carbon-coated hierarchical spinel Fe1.5V1.5O4 nanorods: A promising anode material for enhanced lithium storage

In this work, a facile synthesis strategy was used to fabricate the carbon-coated new spinel Fe1.5V1.5O4 nanorods. The initial obtained precursor was prepared by a facile solvothermal process. After it was treated by different methods, hierarchical Fe1.5V1.5O4@C nanorods consisted of Fe1.5V1.5O4 primary nanoparticles with different particle sizes could be obtained. As anode materials for lithium ion batteries, the hierarchical Fe1.5V1.5O4@C nanorods composed of smaller primary particles show higher reversible capacity, better cycling performance and rate capability. Its reversible capacity can retain at 753 mAh g−1 and 709 mAh g−1 even cycled at 0.5 A g−1 and 2 A g−1 after 100 cycles and 1000 cycles, respectively. The excellent lithium storage performance of carbon-coated Fe1.5V1.5O4 nanorods is dependent on the spinel crystal structure, unique hierarchical structure, and synergistic effect of active materials and carbon layer in the composites. The results of CV curves imply that the overall capacity upon cycling is determined by both of the surface-controlled capacitive contribution and diffusion-controlled Li+ intercalation process.