Green and facile synthesis of carbon encapsulated Fe3N nanospheres grown on N-doped porous carbon nanosheet as an excellent anode material

The development of iron nitride anode materials is greatly impeded by their traditional synthetic methods. In this work, carbon encapsulated Fe3N nanospheres grown on N-doped porous carbon nanosheet is successfully prepared by a green, facile and controllable approach. Only a small nitrogen source is needed in the synthetic process by in-situ nitrogenization. The Fe3N nanospheres are coated by carbon and uniformly adhered to Ndoped porous carbon nanosheet, which prominently mitigates the variation of volume and elevates the electrochemical reaction kinetics. The feature is conducive to realizing a long life and brilliant rate performance. As an anode for lithium-ion batteries, a high discharge capacity of 484 mA h g-1 is delivered after 600 cycles at 2 A g-1. Extensive impact is brought by this study for the preparation and application of metal nitride materials.

Automated summary

In this study, carbon encapsulated Fe3N nanospheres grown on N-doped porous carbon nanosheet were successfully prepared using a green, facile, and controllable method. Only a small nitrogen source was required for the in-situ nitrogenization process. The Fe3N nanospheres were coated by carbon and uniformly adhered to Ndoped porous carbon nanosheet, resulting in reduced volume variation and enhanced electrochemical reaction kinetics. This feature contributes to a long life and excellent rate performance. As an anode for lithium-ion batteries, it exhibited a high discharge capacity of 484 mA h g-1 after 600 cycles at 2 A g-1. This study has significant impact on the preparation and application of metal nitride materials.