Facile synthesis of single-crystalline mesoporous NiO nanosheets as high-performance anode materials for Li-ion batteries

Abstract

Single crystal mesoporous NiO nanosheets have been synthesized via a simple hydrothermal approach and subsequent annealing process. The formation mechanism was discussed based on the morphological evolution of the as-synthesized NiO precursor. Furthermore, the mesoprous NiO nanosheets obtained at 500 °C (NiO-500) and 700 °C (NiO-700) were applied to lithium ion batteries as anode materials. It was found that the NiO-500 exhibits better electrochemical performance than NiO-700. The NiO-500 electrode demonstrated a high initial coulombic efficiency of 80.9% and a capacity of 571 mAh g−1 after 50 cycles at a current density of 143.6 mA g−1. Even after 60 cycles under different current density from 71.8 to 1436 mA g−1, a reversible capacity of 599 mAh g−1 was retained. The results indicate that the mesoporous NiO nanosheets have promising potential application in the lithium ion batteries.