Biotemplate synthesis of mesoporous α-Fe2O3 hierarchical structure with assisted pseudocapacitive as an anode for long-life lithium ion batteries

Abstract The oriented biotemplate synthesis of nanostructured metal oxides as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has recently attracted widespread attentions. Herein, mesoporous α-Fe2O3 hierarchical tubes (named as Fe-400) were successfully prepared by facile iron salt impregnation and air calcination at 400 °C using waste poplar branch as biotemplate. The hierarchical structure of Fe-400 is constructed from cross-linked small nanoparticles (~29 nm), which then results in large specific surface area (37.7 m2 g−1) and uniform mesoporous size distribution (12.2 nm). As anode material for LIBs, Fe-400 displays reversible capacity of 880.7 mA h g−1 after long-cycle of 800th at 1 A g−1, indicating that this material has high capacity retention and good long-cycle stability. The prominent electrochemical properties are mainly ascribed to the large specific surface area, unique homogeneous mesopores, and the assisted pseudocapacitive behaviors of Fe-400. In view of the low-cost, environment-friendly and easily large-scale synthesis of Fe-400 electrode material, the present biotemplate strategy can present useful reference for the synthesis of other transition metal oxide-based anode materials for LIBs.