General construction of molybdenum-based compounds embedded in flexible 3D interconnected porous carbon nanofibers with protective porous shell for high-performance lithium-ion battery

The rational design of electrode architecture coupling with high specific capacity nanomaterials is highly desirable to build superior energy storage system. Herein, molybdenum-based compounds embedded in flexible 3D interconnected porous carbon nanofibers with protective porous carbon shell are constructed via a facile electro-blowing spinning technique using as free-standing lithium-ion battery (LIB) anodes. Such a well-designed architecture possesses large surface area, protective porous carbon shell and 3D interconnected porous structure. Moreover, various high specific capacity molybdenum-based compounds, including MoS2, MoO2 and MoN, can homogenously disperse within the fibers under different carbonization condition, especially, some of them are bridged to the fiber skeleton through a thin graphite carbon layer. The synergetic coupling effects benefited from the structural and material advantages are effective to provide more lithium-ion storage active sites, fast electrons/ions transfer pathways and good structural integrity. Using as free-standing anodes of LIB, the three fibrous anodes deliver an excellent electrochemical performance in terms of high specific capacity, superior rate capability and satisfied cycling stability. Extraordinarily, the well-designed architecture of fibrous anodes might open a new paradigm to boost the creation of high-performance electrodes for various energy storage devices. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The rational design of electrode architecture coupling with high specific capacity nanomaterials is effective to provide more lithium-ion storage active sites, fast electrons/ions transfer pathways and good structural integrity. This well-designed architecture possesses large surface area, protective porous carbon shell and 3D interconnected porous structure, delivering excellent electrochemical performance for lithium-ion battery anodes.