Facile solvothermal synthesis of mesoporous manganese ferrite (MnFe2O4) microspheres as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries.

We report the synthesis and characterization of the mesoporous manganese ferrite (MnFe2O4) microspheres as anode materials for Li-ion batteries. MnFe2O4 microspheres were synthesized by a facile solvothermal method using Mn(CH3COO)2 and FeCl3 as metal precursors in the presence of CH3COOK, CH3COOC2H5, and HOCH2CH2OH. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption, thermal gravimetric, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, temperature programmed reduction, and temperature programmed oxidation. The synthesized mesoporous MnFe2O4 microspheres composed of nanoparticles (10-30 nm) were 100-500 nm in diameter and had surface areas between 60.2 and 86.8 m(2) g(-1), depending on the CH3COOK amounts added in the preparation. After calcined at 600°C, MnFe2O4 was decomposed to Mn2O3 and Fe2O3 mixture. The mesoporous MnFe2O4 microspheres calcined at 400°C showed a capacity of 712.2 mA h g(-1) at 0.2C and 552.2 mA h g(-1) at 0.8C after 50 cycles, and an average capacity fading rate of around 0.28%/cycle and 0.48%/cycle, much better than those of the samples without calcination and calcined at 600°C. The work would be helpful in the fabrication of binary metal oxide anode materials for Li-ion batteries.