N-doped Carbon Nanofibers Research Articles

Gram-scale synthesis and unraveling the activity origin of atomically dispersed Co-N4O sites toward superior electrocatalytic oxygen reduction

Exploring highly efficient nonprecious metal-based single-atom catalysts (SACs) toward the electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is critical for the sustainable development of ORR-related energy conversion and storage systems. However, the scalable synthesis, delicate regulation of the coordination environment and molecular-level elucidation of the electrocatalytic mechanism remain challenging. Herein, we report a facile gram-scale synthesis of atomically dispersed Co sites anchored on N-doped carbon nanofibers (noted as Co-SA@N-CNFs) via a reliable predesigned phenolic resin-mediated strategy for efficient oxygen reduction electrocatalysis. The local coordination configuration of the single-atomic Co sites is proposed as the Co-N4O moiety with one O atom in the axial direction perpendicular to the Co-N4 plane. Theoretical calculations uncover that, compared with the common Co-N4 single sites, the formation of Co-N4O configuration is beneficial to reduce the reaction energy barrier, adjust the bond length between the metal sites and the intermediates, and also increase the electric conductivity. Therefore, the Co-SA@N-CNFs demonstrated distinguished ORR activity, outstanding electrochemical stability and methanol tolerance in KOH electrolyte. Furthermore, when assembled in liquid and flexible solid-state rechargeable zinc-air batteries (ZABs), the Co-SA@N-CNFs-equipped ZABs exhibited higher power densities, larger specific capacities and extraordinary cycling performance, compared with the Pt/C-based ZABs. The simple and robust methodology for the mass production of SACs and the engineered coordination environment for performance optimization inspire the future design of a wide range of SACs for energy devices.

Amorphous to Crystalline Ni3S2 Nanostructures Anchored on N-Doped Carbon Nanofibers for Electrochemical Splitting of Water

Nickel-based chalcogenides have recently gained considerable interest due to their potential as efficient electrocatalysts for overall water splitting. For example, nickel sulfide (NiSx) with suitable chemisorption energy for both oxygen- and hydrogen-containing intermediates can catalyze both half-cell reactions. Here, we report the synthesis of Ni3S2 nanostructures of ∼8 nm mean size, anchored over electrospun N-doped carbon nanofibers using microwave synthesis. Careful optimization of the process parameters enabled the structural synthesis of three different types of Ni3S2 (mostly amorphous, partially crystalline, and mostly crystalline) over carbon nanofibers. Scanning and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the catalysts and electrochemical performance evaluated in an alkaline medium. The partially crystalline phase of Ni3S2 supported over carbon nanofibers was the best-performing catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) due to its high electrochemically active surface area, N-doping of carbon, presence of a crystalline and amorphous mixed phase, and high conductivity of the carbon support which resulted in a low overpotential of 270 mV for the OER with a Tafel slope of only 51 mV/dec and a low charge transfer resistance of 1.08 Ω. Moreover, the catalyst was stable and yielded more than 95% Faradaic efficiency in both the oxygen evolution and hydrogen evolution reactions.

Cobalt Nanoparticles Encapsulated with N-Doped Bamboo-Like Carbon Nanofibers as Bifunctional Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction/Evolution Reactions in a Wide pH Range

Nonprecious bifunctional oxygen reduction reaction (ORR)/oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts in wide pH electrolytes are crucial for the versatile use of electrochemical energy storage and conversion devices. Non-noble metal/nitrogen-doped carbon (M–N/C) has been reported as a promising candidate for efficient and cost-effective bifunctional catalysts. Nevertheless, the stability and catalytic activity of M–N/C bifunctional catalysts in a wide pH range are still limited, especially in neutral and acidic electrolytes. Here, we synthesized directly grown N-doped bamboo-like carbon nanofiber-encapsulated cobalt nanoparticles on carbon flakes (Co–N/C fiber) via pyrolysis of 2D cobalt–zeolitic imidazolate framework and tubular g-C3N4. The in situ growth of N-doped carbon nanofiber incorporated with Co nanoparticles exposes large active sites and enhances charge transfer. Moreover, abundant mesopores with high loading of pyridinic-N, graphitic-N, Co@N/C, and Co–Nx facilitate high catalytic activity in a wide pH condition. Co–N/C fiber shows superior ORR performance in alkaline, neutral, and acidic electrolytes with high onset potentials of 1.003, 0.820, and 0.800 V vs RHE, respectively. A comparable OER performance of Co–N/C fiber to the Ir/C benchmark in alkaline and neutral conditions can be obtained with 397 and 570 mV overpotentials at 10 mA cm–2. Utilizing Co–N/C fiber in alkaline and neutral Zn–air batteries exhibits power densities of 155 and 67 mW cm–2, with excellent stability for over 180 h. This study offers a strategy for developing a bifunctional M–N/C catalyst that is applicable across a wide pH range via hybrid nanostructuring.

Core-shell Ppy@N-doped porous carbon nanofiber-based electrodes for high-property supercapacitors

Here, core-shell supercapacitor electrodes with high performance were prepared using electrospinning, carbonation, nitrogen-doping and chemical polymerization. The core of the electrode was a N-doped porous carbon nanofiber skeleton, its shell was a conductive polymer loaded on it. The effects of pore-forming agent content, N-doped amount, and polymerization temperature on the morphologies, structures and electrochemical performance of products in each stage were characterized, and the optimum parameters were obtained. As a freestanding electrode, the SC of core-shell composite reached 342.13 F g−1 at 1 A g−1, and its SC attenuation was only 4.6 % after 1000 cycles, indicating its good charge storage performance and cycle stability. Then a symmetric supercapacitor fabricated with the best electrode displayed an energy density of 3.10 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 50 W kg−1. Therefore, this paper proposed an effective method for developing multifunctional electrode materials of supercapacitors.

Metal-free nitrogen-doped porous carbon nanofiber catalyst for solar-Fenton-like system: Efficient, reusable and active catalyst over a wide range of pH

Water pollution is a growing environmental crisis caused by industrialization. In-situ production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is one of the most promising strategies to challenge this problem. However, developing a robust and efficient catalyst that can operate in harsh conditions without generating secondary pollution and tackle the recycling difficulties of powder catalysts remains a challenge. In this study, a graphitized N-doped carbon nanofiber (CNF) catalyst was synthesized in a direct synthesis approach, which is more efficient in time and cost and suitable for industrial applications, by means of electrospinning and carbonization process. Zinc acetate and iron nitrate functioned as a template for porous structure generation and carbon graphitizing catalysts. The as-synthesized catalyst was used in the wide pH range. This was mainly due to: i) the high surface area (∼ 652 m2 g−1) and the micro-mesoporous structure, which have reduced the inner diffusion resistance and facilitated mass transport radically during the reaction. ii) The enhanced electron transfer kinetics through the long 1D CNF revealed by the cyclic voltammetry analysis. iii) The abundance of oxygen-containing function groups, graphitic-C pyridinic-N and graphitic-N active sites that facilitated the activation of H2O2 and the generation of the ROS responsible for the degradation of the organic pollutants. The catalysts’ 1D structure and lightweight enabled the catalyst recovery and reuse.

Integrating RuCo alloy in N-doped carbon nanofiber for efficient hydrogen evolution in alkaline media

Ruthenium (Ru) is considered as a promising element for constructing alkaline hydrogen evolution (HER) catalysts due to its rapid water dissociation kinetics and low-cost advantages than Pt. Alloying can optimize the electrochemical performance of metals and reduce the usage of the noble metal. Herin, RuCo alloy nanoparticles were grown in-situ on N-doped carbon nanofibers (RuCo/NCNF) by electrospinning and graphitization. Under thermodynamic driving force, the Ru and Co elements formed RuCo alloys. It is worth noting that the Ru not only improved the catalytic performance, but also reduced the nanoparticle size and exposing more active sites. Moreover, N-doped carbon nanofiber was not only used to load RuCo alloy nanoparticle, but also as a good substrate for the HER reaction. Therefore, the RuCo/NCNF had fabulous catalytic activity in alkaline media. Furthermore, the in-situ growth also endowed the RuCo/NCNF with excellent stability, HER performance was not significantly reduced even after 40 h stability test. And when the Ru:Co = 1:8, RuCo/NCNF had the excellent HER catalytic performance. Only 41 mV was required to drive a current density of 10 mA cm−2, with Tafel Slope as low as 64.8 mV dec−1.

Porous nanofibers comprising VN nanodots and densified N-doped CNTs as redox-active interlayers for Li–S batteries

A synthesis strategy to obtain hierarchically porous N-doped carbon (P–N–C) nanofibers (NFs) comprising VN nanodots and highly densified-entangled N-doped CNTs (N-CNTs) was visualized. The unique redox-active nanostructure was applied as a multifunctional interlayer for highly stable Li–S batteries (LSBs). The P–N–C skeleton obtained via selective removal of amorphous carbon (AC) and polystyrene (PS) not only guarantees efficient electrolyte percolation but also facilitates rapid diffusion of charged species during charge-discharge processes. Moreover, the N-CNTs constituting the fiber matrix increase the overall conductivity of the framework. Besides, highly conductive vanadium nitride (VN) nanodots act as chemisorption sites for efficient lithium polysulfide capturing and prohibit their diffusion towards the anode through efficient catalytic conversion, thus improving the elemental S utilization. The Li–S cells utilizing P–N–C@VN/N-CNT NF as a multifunctional barrier resulted in decent rate capabilities (559 mA h g−1 at 2.0 C) and long-term cycling stabilities at low and high C-rates (432 mA h g−1 after the 400th cycle at 0.1 C and 290 mA h g−1 at the end of 600th cycle at 1.0 C). This is attributed to the combined synergistic effects of the P–N–C framework, N-CNT matrix, and polar VN nanodots.

Stabilizing High Density Cu Active Sites with ZrO2 Quantum Dots as Chemical Ligand in N-doped Porous Carbon Nanofibers for Efficient ORR.

The emerging transition metal-nitrogen-carbon (MNC) materials are considered as a promising oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst system to substitute expensive Pt/C catalysts due to their high surface area and potential high catalytic activity. However, MNC catalysts are easy to be attacked by the ORR byproducts that easily lead to the deactivation of metal active sites. Moreover, a high metal loading affects the mass transfer and stability, but a low loading delivers inferior catalytic activity. Here, a new strategy of designing ZrO2 quantum dots and N-complex as dual chemical ligands in N-doped bubble-like porous carbon nanofibers (N-BPCNFs) to stabilize copper (Cu) by forming CuZrO3-x /ZrO2 heterostructures and CuN ligands with a high loading of 40.5wt.% is reported. While the highly porous architecture design of N-BPCNFs builds a large solidelectrolytegas phase interface and promotes mass transfer. The preliminary results show that the half-wave potential of the catalyst reaches 0.856V, and only decreases 0.026V after 10 000 cycles, exhibiting excellent stability. The proposed strategy of stabilizing metal active sites with both heterostructures and CuN ligands is feasible and scalable for developing high metal loading ORR catalyst.

Heterostructure-induced enhanced oxygen catalysis behavior based on metal cobalt coupled with compound anchored on N-doped carbon nanofiber for microbial fuel cell

High-efficiency oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) is important to boost the power production efficiency and reduce overall cost. Herein, we demonstrate a novel nitrogen (N)-doped carbon nanofiber (N-CNF) supported metal and metal compound heterostructure derived from metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which endows superior electrocatalytic activity by optimizing the coupling modulation effect. The resulting cobalt/cobalt phosphide and cobalt/cobalt sulfide nanoparticles embedded in N-doped carbon nanofiber (Co/CoP/Co2P@N-CNF, Co/CoS2@N-CNF) present superior ORR activity and methanol tolerance. Moreover, the assembled MFCs modified with Co/CoP/Co2P@N-CNF and Co/CoS2@N-CNF composite also achieve higher power density (375.16 and 400.06 mW m−2) as well as coulombic efficiency (11.2 %, 12.4 %), superior than that of Pt/C electrode (333.70 mW m−2, 10.4 %). Impressively, the Co/CoS2@N-CNF electrode exhibits long-term stability and durability in dual-chamber MFCs. A high-performance heterostructure cathode with an effective strategy for bridging nanocatalysis and practical MFCs is reported and presented.

Novel Preoxidation-Assisted Mechanism to Preciously Form and Disperse Bi2O3 Nanodots in Carbon Nanofibers for Ultralong-Life and High-Rate Sodium Storage.

Metal oxides, as promising electrode materials for sodium-ion batteries, usually need to be formed by exposure to oxygen, which usually thermally corrodes the carbon material with which they are compounded, reducing their flexibility and electrical conductivity. Herein, we present for the first time a preoxidation-assisted mechanism to prepare bismuth oxide and carbon nanofibers (Bi2O3@C-NFs) by electrospinning, using Bi2S3 nanorods as multifunctional templates. The bismuth could be oxidized by C═O bonds formed through the cyclization reaction in the high-temperature calcination process, effectively avoiding thermal corrosion of carbon in oxygen atmosphere at high temperature. More importantly, the uniformly distributed Bi2O3 nanodots and longitudinal tunnels are formed inside the S- and N-doped carbon nanofibers with the continuous diffusion of Bi generated from the decomposition of Bi2S3 nanorods and the conversion to Bi─O bonds with C═O bonds being broken. Benefiting from the structural and composition merits arising from preoxidation, Bi2O3@C-NFs self-supporting anodes show high specific capacity (439 mAh g-1 at 0.05 A g-1), superior rate performance (243 mAh g-1 at a current density of 20 A g-1), and outstanding cycling stability (211 mAh g-1 after 2000 cycles at 5 A g-1). The effective combination of the well-established electrospinning technology and the preoxidation assisted mechanism provides a new way for the preparation of metal oxide and carbon composites.

Ru–Fe4C nanoparticles loaded on N-doped carbon nanofibers as self-supporting high-efficiency hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts

The Ru–Fe4C/NCNF (Ru : Fe = 1 : 6) catalyst exhibits excellent catalytic performance (η10 = 106 mV and η100 = 254 mV). The prepared catalyst can be used as a self-supporting working electrode and it shows excellent stability.

Ultrasmall SnFe2O4 nanoparticles anchored on N-doped carbon nanofibers for ultralight and high-performance microwave absorption.

One-dimensional (1D) N-doped carbon nanofibers decorated with ultrafine (∼4.5 nm) SnFe2O4 nanoparticles (denoted as SFO/N-CNFs) are successfully synthesized by a combination of electrospinning and solvothermal process, and their microwave absorption (MA) properties are reported for the first time. With only 5 wt% filler loading in a silicone rubber matrix, the optimum reflection loss (RL) could reach -46.5 dB and the qualified frequency bandwidth (RL < -10 dB) can be capable of 4.8 GHz at 1.6 mm, exhibiting better comprehensive absorption performance relative to other analogous absorbers. The lightweight and highly efficient MA of SFO/N-CNFs is largely ascribed to the improved impedance matching and satisfactory attenuation ability caused by the synergistic effect between the ultrasmall-sized SFO nanoparticles (NPs) and 1D N-CNF matrix. This work not only offers a novel and promising high-performance microwave absorber, but also offers a general approach to designing and fabricating ultrasmall transition metal oxide nanoparticle decorated carbon-based composite nanostructures for multifunctional applications.

Mixed-phase 1T/2H-WS2 nanosheets on N-doped multichannel carbon nanofiber as current collector-integrated electrode for potassium battery anode.

Potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) have attracted enormous attention due to the increasing lithium battery cost, but their development is still in the pre-mature stage due to the limited selection of electrodes. Herein, a free-standing current-collector-integrated electrode, composed of mixed-phase WS2 nanosheets with nitrogen-doped multichannel carbon nanofibers (N-MCNFs) membrane, is reported for high-performance potassium ion batteries anode. Benefiting the unique multichannel carbon nanostructure as a current collector-integrated electrode as well as mixed-phase lamellar structure WS2 for enhanced potassium ion entry, the 1T/2H-WS2/N-MCNFs hybrid current-collector-free anode delivers an outstanding areal capacity of 2.88 mAh cm-2 (corresponding to 411 mAh/g based on the mass of both electrode and current collector) at a current of 0.7mAcm-2 as well as long-term cycling stability for over 1000 cycles at a high current of 14mAcm-2, surpassing the current state-of-art PIB anode. It is believed that our findings based on the high energy current collector integrated electrode at high mass loading would boost future research on practical metal ion batteries.

Enhanced electrochemical performances based on ZnSnO3 microcubes functionalized in-doped carbon nanofibers as free-standing anode materials.

The binary composite, ZnSnO3 microcubes (ZSO MC) homogeneously parceled in an N-doped carbon nanofiber membrane (ZSO@CNFM), was synthesized via a mild hydrothermal, electrospinning and carbonization process as a flexible lithium-ion battery (LIB) anode material. The unique carbon-coating layer architecture of ZSO@CNFM not only plays a crucial role in alleviating the volume change of ZSO MC during lithium ion insertion/extraction processes, but also constructs a three-dimensional (3D) transport network with the help of interconnected carbon nanofibers (CNFs) to ensure the structural integrity of the material and promote the electrochemical reaction kinetics. Due to its good flexibility characteristics, the as-prepared ZSO@CNFM can be directly adopted as an anode material for LIBs without the use of copper foil, conductive carbon black and any binder. Electrochemical surveying results manifest that the optimal ZSO@CNFM electrode displays excellent cycling stability (582.6 mA h g-1 after 100 lithiation/delithiation cycles at 100 mA g-1), high coulombic efficiency (CE, 99.6% at 100th cycles), and superior rate performance (349.5 mA h g-1 at 2 A g-1). The good electrochemical properties can be ascribed to the synergistic effect of the high theoretical specific capacity of ZSO MC, favourable stability of the carbon substrate, the open structure of ZSO@CNFM and the 3D continuous highly conductive framework for rapid electron/ion transfer.

Nano-Co-embedded carbon nanofibers for oxygen reduction reaction in Zn-air batteries

The preparation of inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and stable electro-catalysts is crucial for realizing large-scale practical applications of Zn-air batteries. Herein, Co nanoparticles are successfully encapsulated in N-doped carbon nanofibers by electrospinning technique. The obtained material has the characteristics of stable fibrous structure, abundant active centers and fast electron transport. As expected, Co@HPCNFs-800 exhibits high catalytic activity with its initial potential (0.925 V) and onset half-wave potential (0.824 V). Meanwhile, the stability of Co@HPCNFs-800 is significantly higher than commercial Pt/C. Most importantly, the rechargeable Zn-air batteries using Co@HPCNFs-800 catalyst exhibit good open-circuit voltage and cycling stability, demonstrating their potential for practical application. Therefore, this facile method can generally be used to synthesize non-noble metal electrocatalysts to improve energy conversion efficiency.

Heterostructure engineering of MnO/TiO2 embedded in N-doped hollow carbon nanofibers for superior sodium storage

TiO2-based materials are viewed as promising anodes for sodium-ion batteries due to their high theoretical capacity and superior structural stability, but they suffer from low electron conductivity and sluggish Na+ diffusion kinetics, which leads to inferior rate performance and cyclability. Herein, a novel MnO/TiO2 embedded into N-doped hollow carbon nanofibers (MnO/TiO2@N-C) is proposed to address this challenge via combining the heterostructure engineering and nanostructure designing. The integrated design greatly enhances the Na+ transfer and adsorption, provides more active interfacial sites and promotes the electric conductivity. The first-principle density functional theory calculations manifest that the constructed hetero-interfaces between MnO and TiO2 induce strong electric fields and accelerate Na+ transfer. Due to these merits, the MnO/TiO2@N-C exhibits a high reversible discharge capacity of 406.5 mA h g−1 at 0.3 A/g, superior rate capability (213.3 mA h g−1 at 3 A/g), and exceptional cycling performance (99.3 % capacity retention after 10,000 cycles at 3 A/g). In addition, the Na full cell based on MnO/TiO2@N-C anode exhibits a promising energy density of 332.8 Wh kg−1 at 677.1 W Kg−1. This work offers a novel and an interesting strategy to improve electrochemical sodium storage of TiO2-based materials, which is significant for the practical applications of sodium-ion batteries.

In-situ encapsulating ultrafine CoFe2O4 nanoparticle into porous N-doped carbon nanofiber membrane as self-standing anode for enhanced lithium storage performance

The ultrasmall CoFe2O4 nanoparticles in situ encapsulated in porous N-doped carbon nanofibers membranes (CFO@PNCFM) with different pore structures have been prepared by electrospinning and subsequent carbonization. When immediately used as self-standing anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the optimized CFO@PNCFM exhibits superior lithium storage properties with high rate capability (476.5 mAh g−1 at 2 A g−1) and long stable cycle life (755.8 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 after 200 cycles). The outstanding electrochemical performance may be mainly ascribed to the synergistic effect of special 3D conductive porous carbon nanofibers (PCNFs) network and ultrafine CoFe2O4 nanoparticles in energy storage, which can significantly enhance the utilization efficiency of electroactive materials and improve the charge-transport kinetics. Moreover, the CoFe2O4 nanoparticles bonded closely to PCNFs through strong metal-oxygen bridges, which promote the electron capture and transfer from PCNFs to CoFe2O4, and thus achieving fast electrochemical reaction kinetics. Meanwhile, the porous structure can not only alleviate the volume change during charge/discharge cycles, but also supply numerous active sites for lithium storage, resulting in a high reversible capacity as well as good cycle stability and rate performance.

N-Doped Carbon Nanofibers Coupled with TiO2 Quantum Dots for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

N-Doped Carbon Nanofibers Coupled with TiO₂ Quantum Dots for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

Manipulating the Rectifying Contact between Ultrafine Ru Nanoclusters and N-Doped Carbon Nanofibers for High-Efficiency pH-Universal Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution.

The rational design of ingenious strategies to boost the intrinsic activity and stability of ruthenium (Ru) is of great importance for the substantial progression of water electrolysis technology. Based on Mott-Schottky effect, electronic regulation within a metal/semiconductor hybrid electrocatalyst represents a versatile strategy to boost the electrochemical performance. Herein, a typical Mott-Schottky hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalyst composed of uniform ultrafine Ru nanoclusters in situ anchored on N-doped carbon nanofibers (abbreviated as Ru@N-CNFs hereafter) through a feasible and scalable "phenolic resin-bridged" strategy is reported. Both spectroscopy analyses and density functional theory calculations manifest that such rectifying contact can induce the spontaneous electron transfer from Ru to N-doped carbon nanofibers to generate a built-in electric field, thus enormously promoting the charge transfer efficiency and HER intrinsic activity. Moreover, the seamless immobilization of Ru nanoclusters on the substrate can prevent the active sites from unfavorable migration, coarsening, and detachment, rendering the excellent structural stability. Consequently, the well-designed Ru@N-CNFs afford prominent pH-universal HER performances with small overpotentials of 16 and 17mV at 10mA cm-2 and low Tafel slopes of 31.8 and 28.5mV dec-1 in acidic and alkaline electrolytes, respectively, which are superior to the state-of-the-art commercial Pt/C and Ru/C benchmarks.

Encapsulation of KTi2(PO4)3 nanoparticles in porous N-doped carbon nanofibers as a free-standing electrode for superior Na/K-storage performance

Herein, a self-supporting electrospinning film of porous N-doped carbon nanofibers impregnated with KTi2(PO4)3 nanoparticles (abbreviated as NF-KTP) is constructed. The free-standing NF-KTP exhibits excellent flexibility and is directly adopted as a binder-free anode for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) and potassium-ion batteries (PIBs). The introduction of conductive N-doped carbon matrix enables enhanced intrinsic electronic conductivity and fast ion diffusion kinetics, as well as the fabrication of porous nitrogen-doped interconnected carbon fibers impregnated with KTi2(PO4)3 nanoparticles can offer a short transport path of sodium/potassium ions and buffer the volume expansion during repetitive intercalation/deintercalation. Therefore, the NF-KTP electrode delivers an initial charge capacity of 116.8 mAh g−1 at 0.2 C, superb rate capability of 107.8 mAh g−1 at 50 C and impressive cycling stability with a capacity retention of 92.8 % for 1000 cycles at 5 C in SIBs. Even at 0 °C and 50 °C, it still retains marvelous rate performance with capacities of 99.8 and 106.3 mAh g−1 at 50 C, respectively. Meanwhile, as an anode material for PIBs, NF-KTP also displays good electrochemical performances, as reflected by its exceptional rate performance (99.3 mA h g−1 at 10 C) and superb cycling performance (with no capacity fading after 300 cycles at 5 C). These satisfactory electrochemical properties can be ascribed to the superiority of the stable 3D network formed by KTP nanofibers. Such a simple and effective strategy may provide a new vision for other materials applied in energy storage systems.