Coordination chemistry-assisted ecofriendly preparation of Fe2O3 nanoparticles embedded in hierarchical carbon for improved lithium storage

The green and facile synthesis of high performance anodes is of significant importance for development of lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Herein, a novel coordination chemistry-assisted method is demonstrated to successfully prepare a superior performance Fe2O3/C composite anode for LIBs. This method does not in- volve time-consuming pre-preparation of carbon materials and use of expensive sophisticated instruments and multiple harmful reagents, exhibiting relatively green and facile features over most of other methods. This Fe2O3/C composite consists of Fe2O3 nanoparticles embedded in a porous carbon sheets assembled hierarchical matrix. Moreover, it finds that this beneficial architecture endows as-prepared Fe2O3/C with improved conductivity, enhanced kinetics, high capacitive contribution and good structure stability. In consequence, this Fe2O3/C anode exhibits superior electrochemical properties such as high capacity, long life and good rate performance, with 756.1 and 545.4 mA h g-1 after 200 cycles at 200 and 1000 mA g-1, respectively. The relatively ecofriendly and simple preparation process as well as superior electrochemical performance make this Fe2O3/C anode promising for LIB application. This work also offers a guiding sig- nificance for designing and developing ecofriendly and facile preparation methods of other metal oxides/ carbon composites for advanced LIB anodes.& COPY; 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.