Superior lithium storage properties of α-Fe2O3 nano-assembled spindles

We report the synthesis and Li-cyclability of alpha-Fe2O3 a nanospindles derived from Fe based metal organic framework (MOF). Presence of phase pure structure and nanospindle morphology is investigated through XRD and SEM/TEM analysis, respectively. Half-cell, Li/a-Fe2O3 delivered reversible capacity of similar to 1024 mA h g(-1) at current density of 100 mA g(-1) and showed excellent cyclability with capacity retention of over 90% after 40 galvanostatic cycles. Further, MOF derived alpha-Fe2O3 nanospindles are capable of delivering good reversible capacity under high current cycling. This clearly reveals that, MOF is one of the unique approaches to yield high performance iron oxide anodes and this approach can be extended to other transition metal oxides to develop high performance electrode materials. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.