Preparation of anode material zinc ferrite by molten salt method and its electrochemical performance

Ternary zinc-based oxides are considered as excellent anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. In the present research, because the poor cycling stability, rapid capacity decay and poor rate performance of metal oxides as battery anodes limit its use to some extent, the electrochemical performance is improved by reducing the material particle size. The ZnFe2O4 synthesized by molten salt method with NaCl and KCl as salt medium reaches the nanometer level and has great morphology. Through high temperature combustion at 838 °C, the material exhibits lamellar structure. The pure phase of ZnFe2O4 is confirmed by X-ray diffractometer, and the diameter of the submicron stacks is about 100–400 nm by scanning with field emission electron microscope. After transmission electron microscopy analysis, the size of a single nanosheet is between 80 nm and 100 nm, and the lattice fringe at (3 1 1) crystal plane is confirmed to be 0.2475 nm by high-resolution transmission. Confirming the material image analysis and characterization analysis, the material is electrochemically tested. The first discharge capacity reaches 1285.8 mAh/g at the current density of 200 mA g−1 by using the Land test system, the charge specific capacity is 654.8 mAh/g, and the coulombic efficiency is 50.93 %. After 300 cycles, the high reversible discharge capacity of 550 mAh/g is still maintained, keep that zinc ferrite synthesized by molten salt method not only has high capacity, but also has cycle stability compared with other anode materials, which can be used as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries.