Carbon cloth–supported Fe2O3 derived from Prussian blue as self-standing anodes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

The carbon cloth (CC)–supported Prussian blue (PB) composite was firstly prepared by using CC as the substrate and PB as active material through a solution impregnation method. Then, the Fe2O3/CC material was obtained by the subsequent high-temperature calcination of PB/CC. This is the first example of composites based on CC and PB (or PB analogues)-derived metal oxides. The resulting Fe2O3/CC composite can be employed directly as binder-free anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), exhibiting superior electrochemical performances to pure CC and Fe2O3. The mass specific capacity of Fe2O3/CC was about 395 mA h g−1 (an areal capacity of 5.1 mA h cm−2) at 100 mA g−1 with almost no decay after 135 discharge/charge cycles. The outstanding lithium storage properties of Fe2O3/CC benefit from the synergistic interaction between CC and Fe2O3.