Synthesis of iron oxide embedded reduced graphene oxide composites with enhanced electrochemical performance as Li-ion battery anodes

The iron oxide embedded reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composites were synthesized by a facile and cost-effective graphenothermal synthesis route. Initially, Fe3O4 was synthesized by thermal heating and used as a Fe source (in addition to GO) to prepare the Fe3O4/rGO composite. During reduction process, GO was reduced to rGO with three dimensional architecture and the micron/sub-micron Fe(3)O(4 )particles to nano-sized Fe3O4 particles. As a LIB anode, the Fe3O4/rGO composites displayed an initial discharge capacity of 1405 mAh g(-1) at 0.1 A g and maintained a capacity of 812 mAh g(-1) at 0.5 A g(-1) for 250 consecutive cycles. Furthermore, FeO/rGO electrodes exhibited better cycling stability for several cycles even at 0.5 A g(-1). So the composite materials developed here hold high potential for energy storage applications.