Defect-rich hierarchical porous spinel MFe2O4 (M = Ni, Co, Fe, Mn) as high-performance anode for lithium ion batteries

Abstract

Exploring innovative anode materials with excellent lithium storage capability is an urgent and challenging task. Among various candidates, the spinel ferrites based anodes received huge attention owing to the high theoretical capacity. However, the rapid capacity decaying and sluggish reaction kinetics during cycling have severely hampered their commercialization process. Herein, the hierarchical porous spinel MFe2O4 (M = Ni, Co, Mn, Fe), comprised of Mn doped porous NiFe2O4/CoFe2O4 heterostructure ligament network and Ni/Co/Mn co-doped Fe3O4 nanosheets network, is synthesized through a facile chemical dealloying strategy. The as-prepared MFe2O4 anode shows impressive cycling stability, revealing a discharge capacity of 1161.6 mAh g−1 after cycling for 1500 cycles at 500 mA g−1. Furthermore, the assembled LiFePO4//MFe2O4 full cell can display a reversible capacity of 111.2 mAh g−1 at 0.5 C after 150 cycles, exhibiting the great potential of the practical application of the MFe2O4 in the next-generation LIBs. The remarkable Li storage properties can be attributed to the particular hierarchical porous structure, highly active NiFe2O4/CoFe2O4 heterointerface and abundant surficial oxygen defects, high stable spinel structure contributed from high conformational entropy of polymetallic ions, and a double role of Mn doping in the cycling process. The structure regulating strategy proposed here is greatly expected to boost the developing of high-performance spinel ferrites based anodes.