In situ construction T-Nb2O5 nanolayer on porous carbon cloth as Binder-Free anode for Lithium-Ion battery with long cycle life

Metastable orthorhombic niobium pentoxide (T-Nb2O5) with fast lithium storage capability and safe operating voltage is recognized as suitable anode material for high power density lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). While, the T-Nb2O5 also suffers from low electrical conductivity in practical applications. In this work, the electrochemical performance of T-Nb2O5 is enhanced by constructing a free-standing electrode and introducing the N-doped carbon substrate. The free-standing electrode consisting of the network-structured Nb2O5 layer and porous carbon cloth (PCC) avoids the use of binders and benefits the electron transport. In addition, the introduction of N-doped carbon substrate is also beneficial to enhance the electronic conductivity of the Nb2O5. When used as the anode for LIBs, the PCC@Nb2O5 demonstrates excellent long cycle life and rate performance, with a specific capacity of over 150 mA h g−1 after 3200 cycles at a current density of 1000 mA g−1. This strategy of constructing free-standing electrodes provides new options for obtaining high-performance Nb2O5 anode electrodes.