Template-sacrificed synthesis of polypyrrole nanofibers for lithium battery

Polypyrrole (PPy) nanofibers have been prepared for the first time using Fe2O3 hollow nanofibers as a sacrificial template, and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectrum, and Raman spectroscopy. The results show that pyrrole was uniformly polymerized around the Fe2O3 and the Fe2O3 was subsequently removed thoroughly with HCl. The electrochemical properties of the PPy nanofibers for lithium battery were investigated with cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge test, and rate performance. The as-prepared PPy nanofibers composed by nanoparticles exhibited with good rate performance, which delivered a high discharge capacity of 98 mA h g(-1) after 50 cycles between 2.0 and 3.8 V at 30 mA g(-1).