Nitrogen/chlorine-doped carbon nanodisk-encapsulated hematite nanoparticles for high-performance lithium-ion storage

Abstract Iron oxide (Fe2O3) is an intriguing anode material of electrochemical energy storage systems such as rechargeable batteries. The rational design of its nanostructure at mild condition to cope with the issues of low reversible capacity and sluggish kinetics is required. Herein, an efficient, facile, and potentially large-scale synthesis approach using the precursor of laminated iron oxychloride@polyaniline heterostructure and mild annealing is developed, yielding unique Fe2O3@carbon nanocomposites with hematite nanoparticles (∼20 nm) that embedded in nitrogen/chlorine-doped carbon nanodisk (N/Cl–C). Given the benefit of abundant active sites, good chemical contact between carbon and Fe2O3, and robust composite structure, the as-prepared Fe2O3@N/Cl–C anode material delivers competent lithium-ion storage properties, including high reversible capacity of 1010 mAh g−1 (based on the mass of the as-prepared nanocomposite) at 0.1 A g−1, decent rate performance upon a rigorous current change, and superior cycling stability with 955 mAh g−1 after 180 cycles as well as a sustained Coulombic efficiency of about 99%. This structural design may provide a new avenue for achieving efficient iron oxide-based materials in chemical and electrochemical applications such as catalysis, lithium-ion batteries, and sodium-ion batteries.