Hydrothermal synthesis, self-assembly and electrochemical performance of α-Fe2O3 microspheres for lithium ion batteries

In this paper, we report the hydrothermal synthesis, structural characterization and electrochemical properties of uniform alpha-Fe2O3 microspheres. In the synthetic procedure, the surfactant, sodium citrate, was found to be crucial to the formation of alpha-Fe2O3 microspheres. In addition, by simply varying the concentration of sodium citrate, cylindrical alpha-Fe2O3 microstructures could be readily obtained. On the basis of time-dependent experimental result, a possible formation mechanism of the alpha-Fe2O3 microspheres was proposed. The as-obtained alpha-Fe2O3 microspheres were then evaluated as an anode material for lithium ion batteries. And the result shows that the material exhibited an initial discharge capacity as high as 1453.4 mAh g(-1). After 50 cycles, the reversible discharge capacity was 489.5 mAh g(-1), which was much higher than that of commercial graphite. This work provides an additional strategy to prepare self-assembled structures with tailored morphology. And the results are helpful to further understand the mechanism of self-organization and expand the applications of iron oxide micromaterials. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.