Integrating TiO₂/SiO₂ into Electrospun Carbon Nanofibers towards Superior Lithium Storage Performance

Wenxing Liu; Tianhao Yao; Sanmu Xie; Yiyi She; Hongkang Wang

doi:10.3390/nano9010068

Integrating TiO₂/SiO₂ into Electrospun Carbon Nanofibers towards Superior Lithium Storage Performance

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2019 Jan 5;9(1):68. doi: 10.3390/nano9010068.

Authors

Wenxing Liu^{1

2}, Tianhao Yao³, Sanmu Xie⁴, Yiyi She⁵, Hongkang Wang^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China. LiuwenxingLWX@163.com.
² Center of Nanomaterials for Renewable Energy (CNRE), State Key Lab of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, School of Electrical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China. LiuwenxingLWX@163.com.
³ Center of Nanomaterials for Renewable Energy (CNRE), State Key Lab of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, School of Electrical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China. xjtu_yth@stu.xjtu.edu.cn.
⁴ Center of Nanomaterials for Renewable Energy (CNRE), State Key Lab of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, School of Electrical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China. xiesanmu@stu.xjtu.edu.cn.
⁵ Ability R&D Energy Research Centre (AERC), School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR 999077, China. yiyishe@cityu.edu.hk.
⁶ State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China. hongkang.wang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn.
⁷ Center of Nanomaterials for Renewable Energy (CNRE), State Key Lab of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, School of Electrical Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China. hongkang.wang@mail.xjtu.edu.cn.

Abstract

In order to overcome the poor electrical conductivity of titania (TiO₂) and silica (SiO₂) anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), we herein report a facile preparation of integrated titania⁻silica⁻carbon (TSC) nanofibers via electrospinning and subsequent heat-treatment. Both titania and silica are successfully embedded into the conductive N-doped carbon nanofibers, and they synergistically reinforce the overall strength of the TSC nanofibers after annealing (Note that titania⁻carbon or silica⁻carbon nanofibers cannot be obtained under the same condition). When applied as an anode for LIBs, the TSC nanofiber electrode shows superior cycle stability (502 mAh/g at 100 mA/g after 300 cycles) and high rate capability (572, 518, 421, 334, and 232 mAh/g each after 10 cycles at 100, 200, 500, 1000 and 2000 mA/g, respectively). Our results demonstrate that integration of titania/silica into N-doped carbon nanofibers greatly enhances the electrode conductivity and the overall structural stability of the TSC nanofibers upon repeated lithiation/delithiation cycling.

Keywords: SiO2; TiO2; carbon nanofibers; electrospinning; lithium storage properties.