LiF/Fe/C nanofibres as a high-capacity cathode material for Li-ion batteries

LiF/Fe/C composite nanofibres with different morphologies were prepared by electrospinning and heat treatment of LiF/ferrocene/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursors. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were employed to study the structural variations of these composite nanofibres. It was found that Fe nanoparticles and carbon nanofibres were obtained from the thermal decomposition of ferrocene and PAN precursors, respectively. The electrochemical performance was evaluated using the prepared composite nanofibres as the cathode material in lithium half-cells. With uniformly embedded active particles in the carbon nanofibre matrix, the resultant cathode materials presented highly reversible discharge capacities of over 472 mA h g(-1).