A three-dimensional sponge of graphene nanoribbons crosslinked by Fe3O4 nanoparticles for Li+ storage

A three-dimensional sponge of graphene nanoribbons crosslinked by Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs), which is denoted as 3D Fe3O4@GNRs, is synthesized using a simple reflux procedure. In this hybrid, GNRs with open and active edges are used as building blocks while Fe3O4 NPs are employed not only as anode materials but as a crosslinking agent to weld GNRs at the joints, resulting in the assembly of a 3D porous sponge. The 3D Fe3O4@GNR hybrid exhibits super-high cycling performance (1700 mA h g(-1) over 100 cycles at 0.1 A g(-1)) and excellent rate capability (1265 mA h g(-1) at 1 A g(-1)), demonstrating a significant advancement in anode active materials with high energy density for lithium ion batteries.