N-Doped Dual Carbon-Confined 3D Architecture rGO/Fe3O4/AC Nanocomposite for High-Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries

To address the issues of low electrical conductivity, sluggish lithiation kinetics and dramatic volume variation in Fe3O4 anodes of lithium ion battery, herein, a double carbon-confined three-dimensional (3D) nanocomposite architecture was synthesized by an electrostatically assisted self-assembly strategy. In the constructed architecture, the ultrafine Fe3O4 subunits (∼10 nm) self-organize to form nanospheres (NSs) that are fully coated by amorphous carbon (AC), formatting core–shell structural Fe3O4/AC NSs. By further encapsulation by reduced graphene oxide (rGO) layers, a constructed 3D architecture was built as dual carbon-confined rGO/Fe3O4/AC. Such structure restrains the adverse reaction of the electrolyte, improves the electronic conductivity and buffers the mechanical stress of the entire electrode, thus performing excellent long-term cycling stability (99.4% capacity retention after 465 cycles relevant to the second cycle at 5 A g–1). Kinetic analysis reveals that a dual lithium storage mechanism including a diffusion reaction mechanism and a surface capacitive behavior mechanism coexists in the composites. Consequently, the resulting rGO/Fe3O4/AC nanocomposite delivers a high reversible capacity (835.8 mA h g–1 for 300 cycles at 1 A g–1), as well as remarkable rate capability (436.7 mA h g–1 at 10 A g–1).