Electrospinning fabrication of Sb-SnSb/TiO2@CNFs composite nanofibers as high-performance anodes for lithium-ion batteries

The SnSb and TiO2 nanoparticles uniformly embedded into continuous and conductive carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are successfully fabricated through facile electrospinning combined with calcination treatments. The characterization results of the targeted composite nanofibers (Sb-SnSb/TiO2@CNFs-2) confirm that the presence of TiO2 is of significant importance to construct the elaborately designed and intact fiber structure, in which the optimal dosage of the TiO2 precursor is precisely controlled at 2 mmol. Moreover, high theoretical specific capacity of SnSb, available inhibitory effect of TiO2, and great electronic conductivity of CNFs are cooperatively integrated into the Sb-SnSb/TiO2@CNFs-2 composite nanofibers, guaranteeing the enhanced lithium storage capacity and cycling performance when being employed as the anode electrodes. Specifically, the Sb-SnSb/TiO2@CNFs-2 electrode can not only deliver initial discharge specific capacity of 1146.6 mAh/g at 100 mA/g and reversible discharge specific capacity of 580.4 mAh/g after 100 cycles, but also retain discharge specific capacity of 561.3 mAh/g after rate cycles along with recovering the current density to 100 mA/g. Importantly, the Sb-SnSb/TiO2@CNFs-2 electrode is also endowed with prominent advantages in the pseudocapacitive contribution of 66.89 % at 0.8 mV/s. Those investigations and findings of the Sb-SnSb/TiO2@CNFs-2 composite electrodes with facile fabrication process and excellent electrochemical performance can contribute to the practical application of the alloy anodes in the field of the energy storage.