Flexible Sb/Sb2O3-C nanofibers as binder-free anodes for high-performance and stable sodium-ion batteries

Antimony-based electrode materials with conventional slurry-casting process still face great challenges such as tedious preparation process and unsatisfying cycling stability for sodium ion batteries (SIBs). Therefore, the design and fabrication of integrated electrodes with binder-free and even current collector-free are highly significant. Herein, we fabricated flexible Sb/Sb 2 O 3 -C nanofibers (NFs) films utilizing a facile combination of electrospinning technique and carbonization . Sb/Sb 2 O 3 nanoparticles are well embedded in carbon NFs with a fiber diameter of ca. 340 nm. The fabricated NFs films can be directly used as binder and current collector-free anodes for SIBs and exhibited high-capacity and long-lifetime cycles (385.6 mAh g −1 over 500 cycles). Ex situ SEM and TEM observations re-appear their intact fibrous network morphology and stable one-dimensional composite structures after hundreds of discharging-charging cycles, demonstrating that Sb/Sb 2 O 3 -C NFs film is a promising binder-free electrode for SIBs.