High electrochemical performance of nanoporous Fe3O4/CuO/Cu composites synthesized by dealloying Al-Cu-Fe quasicrystal

Abstract

Quasicrystal, an attractive type of material with special physical and chemical properties, has been considered as one of the most promising functional materials. Herein, Al65Cu23Fe12 quasicrystal precursor alloy ribbons were prepared by arc-melting subsequently melt-spinning under a protective argon atmosphere. Unique Fe3O4/CuO/Cu with bicontinuous ligaments and nanopore channels structure was fabricated by a facile one-step chemical dealloying method in 2 M NaOH solutions at room temperature with controlled dealloying times (12 h, 24 h, 48 h, and 96 h). X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) are employed to study the crystal structure and microstructural evolution of these Fe3O4/CuO/Cu composites. The unique composites combined both advantages of Fe3O4/CuO with high capacities and Cu with excellent conductive as anode material for lithium ion batteries. Remarkably, the successful integration of Fe3O4, CuO and Cu as well as the specific 3D ligament-pore structure, which could alleviate the volume changes during the repeating charge and discharge cycles, endowed the as-prepared electrode material with higher reversible capacity, excellent cycle life, and good rate performance due to the synergetic effect. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic charge–discharge measurements had been aimed at evaluating the lithium storage performances of the Fe3O4/CuO/Cu composites. A high specific capacity of 738.4 mAh g−1 could be achieved up to 550 cycles at a current density of 200 mA g−1. Therefore, the as synthesized Fe3O4/CuO/Cu composites exhibit excellent electrochemical stability and reactivity, which might open a new avenue to explore the application of quasicrystals.