Highly flexible metal/metal oxide embedded carbon nanofiber membranes as binder-free materials for Lithium-ion batteries

Free-standing materials with good flexibility is of great interest for energy storage applications. Herein, N-MnO carbon nanofibers (N-MnC) composite is synthesized by introducing one dimensional MnO2 nanowires (1D MnO2 NWs) into PAN and PVB composite solution through electrospinning. The synthesized membranes are directly used as freestanding electrodes for lithium-ion battery (LIB) applications. During synthesis, MnO2 NWs transformed into MnO spherical nanoparticles (NPs) and embedded on carbon nanofibers (CNFs), resulting in an N-MnC composite. N-MnC composite exhibited a discharge/charge capacity of 1405/1114 mAhg(-1) at a current density of 0.1 Ag-1 as an anode for LIBs which is much better than that of pure MnO, MnO2 electrodes. The outstanding performance of N-MnC composite may be credited to its good electrical conductivity, structural integrity, low dimension CNFs (high surface area), and good contact between CNFs and MnO NPs. Hence, the simple and cost-effective strategy of fabricating freestanding electrodes with high flexibility and good conductivity is the most promising approach for addressing practical concerns at the device level, especially for lightweight and flexible electronics.