A Biomimetic-Mineralization-Inspired Hybrid Mesocrystal with Boosted Lithium Storage Properties

摘要

Smart controlling the structure and composition of hybrid anode materials to boost the electrochemical performance is still challenging yet significant for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Herein, a biomimetic strategy is reported for the synthesis of mesostructured Fe3O4@N-doped carbon (Fe3O4@CN) hybrid anodes, inspired by structural features and hybrid compositions of the biomineralized mesocrystals. By using the regenerated silk fibroin (RSF)-biomineralized hematite (-Fe2O3) as a single precursor (RSF-Fe2O3) followed by a simple annealing treat- ment, its interspaced RSF-templates can be carbonized in situ to a kind of RSF-derived CN material, which can further reduce the -Fe2O3 to Fe3O4, generating Fe3O4@CN hybrid mesocrystal. Such a biomimetically designed hybrid mesostructure concur- rently possesses electrochemically favorable features with abundant internal voids and uniformly introduced carbona- ceous layer. Owing to these distinctive structural and composi- tional merits, the Fe3O4@CN electrode exhibits remarkable lithium storage properties embracing high capacity, outstand- ing rate capability, as well as long-term stable cycling life.