Porous γ-Fe₂O₃ spheres coated with N-doped carbon from polydopamine as Li-ion battery anode materials

Nitrogen doping has been demonstrated to play a crucial role in controlling the electronic properties of carbon-based composites. In this paper, nitrogen-doped carbon coated γ-Fe₂O₃ (NCγ-Fe₂O₃) composite was successfully fabricated through a facile and high-yield strategy, including a hydrothermal reaction process for porous γ-Fe₂O₃ and a subsequent coating of nitrogen-doped carbon by using dopamine as precursor. The resulting composite combines the superior properties of porous Fe₂O₃ and heteroatom-doped conductive carbon layer derived from polydopamine. When used as the anode material of the lithium-ion battery, the as-prepared NCγ-Fe₂O₃ composite exhibits excellent lithium storage properties in terms of high capacity, stable cycling performance (869.6 mAh g^-1 at the current density of 0.5 A g^-1 after 150 cycles) and excellent rate capability.