Surfactant-assisted synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles embedded into carbon nanofibers anode materials through electrospinning for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

A simple surfactant-assisted approach is applied in electrospinning technique to fabricate size-controlled ZnO nanoparticles uniformly encapsulated within carbon nanofibers (ZnO@NC). Characterization results reveal that continuous electrospun carbon nanofibers construct three-dimensional network framework, and ZnO nanoparticles are uniformly encapsulated in carbon nanofibers. Moreover, the introduction of cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) can effectively limit the growth of ZnO nanoparticles to form smaller grain sizes during the carbonizing process. Specifically, the assembled Li//ZnO@NC-CTAB cell delivers an initial discharge specific capacity of 1238.3 mAh/g at 100 mA/g and maintains a reversible specific capacity of 875.5 mAh/g after 100 cycles. Moreover, the cell expresses the exceptional rate capability with a discharge specific capacity of 531.8 mAh/g at 2000 mA/g. This excellent electrochemical performance can be partly attributed to the electrostatic repulsion from its positively charged quaternary ammonium groups -N + (CH 3 ) 3 of CTAB, which effectively disperses the Zn 2+ precursors within micelles, thereby preventing aggregation and ensuring uniform nucleation. Moreover, these micelles subsequently serve as spatial confinement during carbonization, suppressing particle migration and resulting in uniform dispersed ZnO nanoparticles. These features indicate that the systematic combination of electrospinning and surfactant have significant promise for the construction of high-performance anode materials for lithium-ion batteries.