Fabrication of one-dimensional architecture Bi5Nb3O15 nanowires by electrospinning for lithium-ion batteries with enhanced electrochemical performance

Highlights: • Bi₅Nb₃O₁₅ nanowires are synthesized by electrospinning. • Bi₅Nb₃O₁₅ nanowires are first reported as anode material. • Nanostructured design can improve the cycling life of bismuth-based anodes. • Alloying/dealloying behavior of Bi₅Nb₃O₁₅ are demonstrated by in-situ XRD. -- Abstract: Bismuth-based materials are promising alloy-type materials as lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) anode with a high theoretical capacity of about 385 mAh g⁻¹ (Li₃Bi). However, the severe volume change during the charge/discharge process limits their applications in LIBs. Nanostructured design is an effective strategy to relieve the volume change. Here, Bi₅Ni₃O₁₅ nanowires are designed and fabricated via a sample electrospinning technique. When used as anode material, the Bi₅Ni₃O₁₅ nanowires exhibit a charge/discharge capacity of 372 and 636 mAh g⁻¹ at current density of 100 mA g⁻¹. After 100 cycles, it still retains a capacity of 267 mAh g⁻¹, revealing a good electrochemical performance. This is mainly attributed to the nanostructured design, which can suppress the pulverization resulting from volume variation during the repeated alloy/dealloy process and offers shorter lithium-ion diffusion path together. In addition, in-situ X-ray diffraction experiments are carried out to explore the phase change and lithium storage mechanism. The exploration of Bi₅Ni₃O₁₅ nanowires as LIBs anode demonstrates that nanostructured design is an effective approach to improve electrochemical performance of alloy-type anodes, which will speed up the process to develop novel alloy-type anodes.