Comparative effects of electrospinning ways for fabricating green, sustainable, flexible, porous, nanofibrous cellulose/chitosan carbon mats as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Abstract To develop a clean and sustainable carbon anode material derived from biomass with desirable properties for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), bio-nitrogen (N)-doped composite carbon nanofibrous mats (CNFMs) were made using natural cellulose (CE) and chitosan (CS) by means of two different electrospinning ways (single-nozzle and coaxial-nozzle) coupled with pyrolysis. The conventional CNFMs that had a CE/CS ratio of 5:5 showed the best electrochemical performance, corresponding to a high specific capacity of 327 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1, good rate performance with specific capacity of 399 mAh g−1 at 30 mA g−1 and 210 mA g−1 at 1000 mA g−1, as well as excellent cycling stability after 300 cycles. The core–shell CNFMs with a thick outer layer of CS and large average fiber diameter (316 nm) at the same CE/CS ratio had higher pyridinic-N and pyrrolic-N contents but a lower degree of graphitization and BET surface area compared to the conventional CNFMs. It was concluded that the bio-N in CS was more uniformly doped into the CNFMs by the single-nozzle electrospinning way than by the coaxial one, and thus more effectively promoted a comprehensive electrochemical performance.