Electrospun Metal Oxides and Carbon Nanofiber-Based Materials in the Application of Rechargeable Lithium Battery

Abstract

To meet the ever-increasing energy and power demands in future market, rechargeable lithium battery is essential in the modern energy conversion systems. Electrode materials are basic components that decide the total capacity. On the anode side, commercial graphite material exhibits limited reversible capacity and rate capability. Therefore, advanced recipes for anode attract great academic interest. In this study, carbon nanofibers (CNFs) and three derivative nanocomposites (CNF-NiO/RuO2, CNF-Fe2O3, and C-Li4Ti5O12) prepared via electrospinning were characterized by variety of techniques. Their electrochemical performances were investigated in comparison with graphite. It was found that the electrospun CNFs have reduction effect for other metal oxides and control the distribution of nanoparticles on their surface. These effects together with the unique one-dimensional characteristic of CNFs lead to the improvement of energy and power density on the anode side. The present results are of promising aspects of applying electrospun CNFs for anode materials in rechargeable lithium batteries.