Well-designed hollow and porous Co3O4 microspheres used as an anode for Li-ion battery

Abstract

Hollow and porous structures grant fantastic physicochemical properties and widespread application in electrochemical energy storage. Here, hollow/porous Co3O4 nanospheres were synthesized using carbon spheres as the sacrificial templates and a metal-organic framework (MOF)–assisted strategy by a simple immersion method, followed by an annealing treatment in air. By virtue of their structure, the products exhibited excellent electrochemical performance when evaluated as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Specifically, it delivered a high discharge reversible specific capacity of ~ 550 mA h g−1 after 520 cycles at the current density of 100 mA g−1; it also exhibits excellent cycling stability and rate capability.