Facile synthesis of single-crystalline Co3O4 cubes as high-performance anode for lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

Transition metal oxides have great potential as anode for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), owing to their high theoretical capacity and low cost. However, the poor cycling stability and electron conductivity have limited the widely expected application of transition metal oxides. In this work, highly single-crystalline Co3O4 cubes with 400 nm in the average side length are successfully synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. When used as anode for LIBs, the Co3O4 single-crystalline cubes exhibit highly stable and substantial discharge capacities of the amount to 877 mA h g−1 at 200 mA g−1 after 110 cycles with remarkable capacity retention of 98%, and 576 mA h g−1 even at a high rate of 2000 mA g−1. The scalability of the preparation method and the impressive results achieved here demonstrate the potential for the application to the future development of transition metal oxides anodes. These results suggest that the single-crystalline Co3O4 is a promising electrode material for the high-performance energy storage devices.