Nitrogen-enriched graphitic carbon encapsulated Fe3O4/Fe3C/Fe composite derived from EDTA-Fe(III) sodium complex as LiBs anodes with boosted performance

Iron oxide such as Fe3O4 is one of the promising anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) due to a high theoretical specific capacity of 924 mAh g(-1). In practical, Fe3O4 nanoparticles with various morphologies generally have to be composited with carbonaceous matrices because of their low conductivity and huge lattice volume variation during charge-discharge process. In this work, nitrogen-enriched graphitic carbon encapsulated Fe3O4/Fe3C/Fe composite was first prepared using EDTA-Fe(III) sodium complex as the precursor. The composite exhibits a high reversible capacity of about 600 mAh g(-1) at a current density of 100 mA g(-1). Meanwhile, it demonstrates excellent rate capability and superior cycling stability due to a synergistic boosting effect of the embedded Fe3C/Fe nanopartides, enriched nitrogen and highly graphitic carbon in the composite. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.