One-dimensional Co3O4 nanonet with enhanced rate performance for lithium ion batteries: Carbonyl-β-cyclodextrin inducing and kinetic analysis

Abstract

Kinetics-limited solid-state diffusion rate results in low rate capacity, retarding the practical applications of Co3O4 anode materials. Construction of nanonet can introduce sufficient interior transport pathways for rapid charging-discharging. Here, we fabricate one-dimensional Co3O4 nanonet (1D-NN) through a facile hydrothermal method with subsequent heat treatment. The construction of nanonet is achieved by employing carbonyl-β-cyclodextrin (C-β-CD) as a crosslinking agent. With the absence of C-β-CD, 1D Co3O4 is also fabricated, while the constructing blocks are independent nanoparticles (1D-NP). Evaluated as anodes for lithium ion batteries, 1D-NN exhibits better rate capacity than 1D-NP. Furthermore, to extract the key reason of outstanding rate capacity, the kinetic properties with different time constants are studied by EIS, GITT and CV simultaneously. The charge transfer resistance and the apparent chemical diffusion coefficient of 1D-NN are more superior to that of 1D-NP. The results of this work show that the C-β-CD induced 1D nanonet structure is conducive to Li+ transport for enhanced rate performance.