Eco-Friendly Fabricated Porous Carbon Nanofibers Decorated with Nanosized SnOx as High-Performance Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes

Abstract

In this work, one-dimensional polyvinylpyrrolidone-derived porous carbon nanofibers decorated with SnOx nanoparticles (denoted as SnOx@PCNFs) were prepared by an electrospinning technique, followed by a simple one-step heat treatment and a postetching process. The structural evolution of SnOx and the morphological change of the carbon nanofiber webs during the heat treatment are investigated by varying the content of the SnOx precursor in the electrospinning solutions. The highly interconnected pores, created by etching off the in situ generated SiO2 template in the carbon nanofibers, are beneficial for the easy penetration of Li+-carrying electrolyte into the nanocomposites and thus enable the direct contact between embedded SnOx nanoparticles and electrolyte. When tested as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, SnOx@PCNFs with optimal SnOx component show outstanding initial reversible capacity of 1057 mA h g–1 at 0.2 A g–1, long cycling capability (511 mA h g–1 at 1 A g–1 after 900 cycles), and goo...