Polypyrrole-derived nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes: Template-directed synthesis and enhanced sodium-storage performance

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-C NTs) have been fabricated through a facile carbonization of polypyrrole nanotubes templating from FeOOH nanorods, and have been applied as an anode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). Owing to their unique structural and compositional features, the N-C NTs electrode exhibits high reversible capacities and excellent cycling stability, and high rate capability. For example, the N-C NTs electrode can deliver a capacity of 248.5 mAh/g at a current density of 100 mA/g after 250 cycles. Moreover, the capacity fading is only 0.13% per cycle from 2 to 250 cycles. Such an excellent sodium-storage performance implies that the as-prepared N-C NTs have a bright application prospect as a high-capacity, long-life, and high-rate anode material for advanced SIBs. (C) 2016 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.