title: CNTs in situ attached to α-Fe2O3 submicron spheres for enhancing lithium storage capacity.
abstract: In this work, we developed a facile hydrothermal method for synthesis of hybrid α-Fe2O3-carbon nanotubes (CNTs) architectures (α-Fe2O3-CNTs-1 and α-Fe2O3-CNTs-2). The CNTs are in situ attached to the α-Fe2O3 submicron spheres and form three-dimensional network robust architectures. The increase in the amount of CNTs in the network α-Fe2O3-CNTs architectures will significantly enhance the cycling and rate performance, as the flexible and robust CNTs could ensure the fast electron transport pathways, enhance the electronic conductivity, and improve the structural stability of the electrode. As for pure α-Fe2O3 submicron spheres, the capacity decreased significantly and retained at 377.4 mAh g(-1) after 11 cycles, and the capacity has a slightly increasing trend at the following cycling. In contrast, the network α-Fe2O3-CNTs-2 electrode shows the most remarkable performance. At the 60th cycle, the capacity of network α-Fe2O3-CNTs-2 (764.5 mAh g(-1)) is 1.78 times than that of α-Fe2O3 submicron spheres (428.3 mAh g(-1)). The long-term cycling performance (1000 cycles) of samples at a high current density of 5 C showed that the capacity of α-Fe2O3 submicron spheres fade to ∼37.3 mAh g(-1) at the 400th cycle and gradually increased to ∼116.7 mAh g(-1) at the 1000th cycle. The capacity of network α-Fe2O3-CNTs-2 maintained at ∼220.2 mAh g(-1) before the 400th cycle, arrived at ∼326.5 mAh g(-1) in the 615th, cycle and retained this value until 1000th cycle. The network α-Fe2O3-CNTs-2 composite could significantly enhance the cycling and rate performance than pure α-Fe2O3 submicron spheres composite.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Nano Biomedicine and Engineering, Department of Instrument Science and Technology, Key Laboratory for Thin Film and Microfabrication Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University , Shanghai 200240, China.
authors.forename: Guo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xin-Bing
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Peiyu
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Rongjin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Daxiang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cui
keywords: CNTs; LIBs; composites; hydrothermal; submicron spheres; α-Fe2O3