A facile route to achieve Fe2O3 hollow sphere anchored on carbon nanotube for application in lithium-ion battery

Fe2O3 hollow sphere/carbon nanotube (CNT) composites were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal reaction and followed with thermal annealing process. The Fe2O3 hollow structure with a width of 500 nm, homogeneously dispersed on CNT. The resultant Fe2O3/CNT composite exhibited an initial reversible capacity of 1232.6 mAh g(-1) at the current density of 100 mA g(-1), and revealing excellent cycling performance along with a reversible capacity of 1176.1 mAh g(-1) after 50 cycles. Simultaneously, the composite also maintained a high reversible capacity of 61.8 mAh g(-1) even at a current density of 5000 mA g(-1) after 1000 cycles. These results suggested Fe2O3/CNT can be a promising anode material for lithium ion batteries.