Dual-template ordered mesoporous carbon/Fe2O3 nanowires as lithium-ion battery anodes

Abstract

Ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) are ideal host materials that can provide the desirable electrical conductivity and ion accessibility for high-capacity oxide electrode materials in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). To this end, however, it is imperative to establish the correlations among material morphology, pore structure and electrochemical performance. Here, we fabricate an ordered mesoporous carbon nanowire (OMCNW)/Fe₂O₃ composite utilizing a novel soft–hard dual-template approach. The structure and electrochemical performance of OMCNW/Fe₂O₃ were systematically compared with single-templated OMC/Fe₂O₃ and carbon nanowire/Fe₂O₃ composites. This dual-template strategy presents synergetic effects combining the advantages of both soft and hard single-template methods. The resulting OMCNW/Fe₂O₃ composite enables a high pore volume, high structural stability, enhanced electrical conductivity and Li⁺ accessibility. These features collectively enable excellent electrochemical cyclability (1200 cycles) and a reversible Li⁺ storage capacity as high as 819 mA h g⁻¹ at a current density of 0.5 A g⁻¹. Our findings highlight the synergistic benefits of the dual-template approach to heterogeneous composites for high performance electrochemical energy storage materials.