Simple Solvent-Free Synthesis of Iron-Oxide/Graphene Nanocomposite As Anode Material in Li-Ion Secondary Batteries

Herein, we show a simple solvent-free synthesis of a nanostructured material, composed of uniform sized iron oxide nanoparticles and graphene, for high performance Li-ion secondary battery. The iron-oxide/graphene nanocomposite was directly obtained by heat treatment of a mixture of iron-oleate and graphene. The experimental results showed that uniform sized γ-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles were homogeneously embedded in the graphene layers, and they acted as mutual spacers in the nanocomposite to prevent the restacking of the graphene layers and the nanoparticle’s aggregation. As anode material in Li-ion battery, the iron-oxide/graphene nanocomposite exhibits outstanding electrochemical performance due to the synergetic effects of the monodisperse iron oxide nanoparticles and well dispersed graphene. The synthetic procedure is easy to scale up and expected to be extended to prepare other hybrid nanocomposite materials.