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To improve the electrochemical performance of cobalt oxide owing to its inherent poor electrical conductivity and large volume expansion/contraction, Co3O4-carbon nanosheet hybrid nanoarchitectures were synthesized by a facile and scalable chemical process. However, it is still a challenge to control the size of Co3O4 particles down to ∼5 nm. Herein, we created nanosized cobalt oxide anchored 3D arrays of carbon nanosheets by the control of calcination condition. The uniformly dispersed Co3O4 nanocrystals on carbon nanosheets held a diameter down to ∼5 nm. When tested as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, high lithium storage over 1200 mAh g(-1) is achieved, whereas high rate capability with capacity of about 390 mAh g(-1) at 10 A g(-1) is maintained through nanoscale diffusion distances and interconnected porous structure. After 500 cycles, the cobalt oxide-carbon nansheets hybrid display a reversible capacity of about 970 mAh g(-1) at 1 A g(-1). The synergistic effect between nanosized cobalt oxide and sheetlike interconnected carbon nanosheets lead to the greatly improved specific capacity and the initial Coulombic efficiency of the hybrids.
Wang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.