The development of nanostructured anode materials for rechargeable Lithium-ion Batteries has seen a growing interest. We herein report the use of a new scalable technique, Forcespinning (FS) to produce binder-free porous Sn/C composite nanofibers with different Sn particle size loading. The preparation process involves the FS of Sn/PAN precursor nanofibers and subsequently stabilizing in air at 280 o C followed by carbonization at 800 o C under an inert atmosphere. The Sn/C composite nanofibers are highly flexible and were directly used as binder-free anodes for lithiumion batteries. The produced Sn/C composite nanofibers showed an improved discharge capacity of about 724 mAhg-1 at a current density of 100 mAg-1 for over 50 cycles compared to most nanofiber electrodes prepared by electrospinning and centrifugal spinning. The FS method clearly produces Sn/C nanofiber composite electrodes that have a high specific capacity and excellent cyclic performance, owing to the unique structure and properties of the nanofibers. The FS technology is thus a viable method for the large scale production of nano/micro fibers for battery electrodes, separators, and other applications. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time to report results on the use of Forcespinning technology to produce composite nanofiber anodes for lithiumion batteries.

We present results on the Forcespinning V R (FS) of Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) for mass production of polymer nanofiber membranes as separators for Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Our results presented here show that uniform, highly fibrous mats from PAN produced using Forcespinning V R , exhibit improved electrochemical properties such as electrolyte uptake, low interfacial resistance, high oxidation limit, high ionic conductivity, and good cycling performance when used in lithium ion batteries compared to commercial PP separator materials. This article introduces ForceSpinning V R , a cost effective technique capable of mass producing high quality fibrous mats, which is completely different technology than the commonly used in-house centrifugal method. This Forcespinning V R technology is thus the beginning of the nano/micro fiber revolution in large scale production for battery separator application. This is the first time to report results on the cycle performance of LIB-based polymer nanofiber separators made by Forcespinning V R technology. V C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 42847.