Porous carbon derived from cherry blossom leaves treatment with Fe3O4 enhanced the electrochemical performance of a lithium storage anode

Metal oxides have been proposed as promising anode materials for next-generation batteries, but the large volume changes and poor electron and ion conductivity limit their electrochemical performance. To mitigate the negative effects of volume expansion on battery performance, a flower-like Fe3O4 structure coated with carbon is studied via one step wet chemical method. The Fe3O4 particles are uniformly distributed in highly porous carbon derived from cherry blossom leaves, resulting in a larger specific area and higher conductivity for the [email protected] anode. In this hybrid [email protected] nanocomposite, the ultrafine carbon coating effectively reduces volume expansion while providing excellent electrochemical performance. The flower-like Fe3O4@C electrodes demonstrate a specific capacity of approximately 1110 mAh g–1 at a current density of 1.0 A g–1. Moreover, the composite material Fe3O4@C exhibits a specific capacity of 848.1 mAh g–1 at a high current density of 2.0 A g–1 over 1000 cycles. These results indicate that the hybrid composition Fe3O4@C possesses excellent electrochemical properties, and suggest that this strategy could be applied to other hybrid materials for energy harvesting and storage.