Oxygen vacanciesWriting – introduced to iron oxide by melamine assist to improve lithium storage performance

Abstract

Iron oxide (Fe2O3) exhibits potential as an anode for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) because of its affordability and high theoretical specific capacity. However, its utilization is restricted by its inadequate electrical conductivity and quick capacity deterioration caused by volume expansion during charge/discharge cycles. In this work, the flaky Fe2O3 with oxygen vacancies was fabricated by facile mixing melamine with Fe2O3 obtained through the hydrothermal method and calcining the mixture in air. Remarkably, the superior electrochemical performance was exhibited with a rate capacity of 671 mA h g−1 when tested at 2 A g−1, and when cycled at 1 A g−1 for 500 cycles, a specific capacity of 488 mA h g−1 was maintained. The results indicate that introducing an appropriate amount of oxygen vacancies in Fe2O3 effectively speeds the transmission of charges and significantly increases the conductivity and pseudocapacitance contribution. Moreover, this work proposes a facile approach to incorporating oxygen vacancies into oxide materials without changing the phase composition, which may contribute to the development of highly efficient electrochemical energy storage.