Nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers as anode material for high-capacity and binder-free lithium ion battery

Coral-like nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were directly grown onto stainless steel by a thermal CVD with N-rich imidazole and acetylene as precursor gasses. The resultant samples, as anodes without using any conductive additive and binder, were assembled into lithium ion batteries. The representative anode exhibits a high reversible capacity of 862.2 mA h g(-1) at a current density of 200 mA g(-1) and a capacity as high as 415.0 mA h g(-1) at 2000 mA g(-1) after 150 cycles. Such a superior electrochemical performance can be attributed to the unique coral-like nanostructure of CNFs as a result of nitrogen doping, which could shorten the diffusion distance of Li+ and largen the contact area between the active materials and electrolyte. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.