Carbon nanofiber-supported SnSe as self-supporting anode for sodium ion battery

Abstract: Because of the huge volume changes in the process of charging and discharging, the application of SnSe in the anode materials of sodium ion batteries (SIBs) is limited, while the development of carbon nanofiber (CNF) anode is also restricted due to its lower theoretical capacity. Therefore, in this paper, SnSe is loaded on the surface of CNF by a simple liquid-phase reaction, in order to combine the advantages of both and improve their shortcomings to prepare a SIBs anode material with good electrochemical properties. The prepared tin selenide composite carbon nanofiber (CNF-SnSe) can be used directly in the self-supporting anode of SIBs. As expected, the CNF-SnSe electrode combined the advantages of CNF and SnSe electrode to show high electrochemical properties. When the current density is 0.1 A g⁻¹, the initial discharge specific capacity can reach 644.9 mA h g⁻¹, and the reversible specific capacity is 355.7 mA h g⁻¹ after 200 cycles. And at 2 A g⁻¹ after 1000 cycles it still has a reversible specific capacity of 261.3 mA h g⁻¹. Therefore, this work offers a reference to the preparation of self-supporting anode materials for high-performance SIBs.