Plasma-treated Co3O4/graphene nanocomposite as high performance anode of lithium-ion battery

Abstract

Co3O4/graphene nanocomposites are synthesized by a plasma-assisted treatment, and Co3O4 nanoparticles are uniformly embedded into graphene nanosheets. The nanocomposites exhibit high electrochemical performance as the anode of lithium-ion battery. The reversible capacity is up to 1368 mAh g−1 at the current density of 125 mA g−1 (about 10 h per half cycle), and maintains at 1269 mAh g−1 after 50 cycles. At high current density of 1700 mA g−1, the charging time can be shortened to merely ∼8 min. Under this high current surge, the capacity maintains at ∼210 mAh g−1 even after 1000 cycles. The high capacity, cyclability and rate capability of the nanocomposites can be attributed to the unique structure, good electronic conductivity, short paths for lithium diffusion and interfacial charging mechanism. The present work indicates that plasma-treated metal-oxide/graphene nanocomposites are good candidates for realizing high-performance lithium-ion battery.