Evaporation-induced synthesis of carbon-supported Fe3O 4 nanocomposites as anode material for lithium-ion batteries

We report the high-yield preparation of carbon-supported superparamagnetic Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites (C-Fe₃O₄-NCs) using a simple evaporation-induced method. The Fe₃O₄ products consist of ∼3-10 nm nanocrystals uniformly embedded in a carbon matrix to assemble nanoparticles with a size range from 40 to 80 nm. It is shown that lithium-ion batteries (LIB) assembled from heat-treated C-Fe ₃O₄-NCs present attractive characteristics including a high specific capacity of 752 mA h g^-1 at a current rate of 0.2 C for the second discharge cycle as well as good cycling performances with ∼87% retained capacity after 100 cycles. © 2013 The Royal Society of Chemistry.