Elsevier

Ceramics International

Volume 41, Issue 6, July 2015, Pages 8257-8260
Ceramics International

Short communication
Three-dimensional CuO microflowers as anode materials for Li-ion batteries

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2015.03.010Get rights and content

Abstract

It is well-known that transition metal oxides are promising anode materials for Li-ion batteries because of their high theoretical capacity and good capacity retention properties. Here we have synthesized copper oxide microflowers (CuO-MFs) by solid-state thermal conversion of Cu(OH)2 precursors. The crystal structure, surface morphology, and electrochemical performance of the products were deeply investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and galvanostatic charge/discharge, respectively. The results suggest that CuO-MFs as novel anode materials have exhibited excellent electrochemical performance in Li-ion batteries. The initial discharge capacity is 785 mA h g−1, and the reversible capacity is still maintained at 350 mA h g−1 after 50 cycles. Thus, three-dimensional CuO-MFs provide a new insight into the development of anode materials for next-generation high-performance Li-ion batteries.

Introduction

In the past decades, rechargeable Li-ion batteries have attracted ever-growing attention thanks to their advantages including high energy density, good rate capability, long cycle life, and environmental friendliness [1], [2], [3]. At present, the anode materials of commercial Li-ion batteries are mainly derived from carbon materials, but they have low specific capacity, poor initial charge–discharge efficiency, etc. [4]. Fortunately, the non-carbon anode materials with a high specific capacity have been developed, such as silicon-based anode materials, tin based anode materials, nitride, sulfide, and the transition metal oxides anode materials (TMOs).

To date, TMOs are promising anode materials for Li-ion batteries owing to their high theoretical capacity and good capacity retention properties [5], [6]. Among these TMOs, CuO has shown a great potential as an anode material for LIBs owing to its high theoretical capacity (670 mA h g−1 ), inexpensiveness, environmental friendliness and good safety [7], [8]. Unfortunately, the pure CuO semiconductor electrode suffers from poor cycle performance, low conductivity, severe particle aggregation, even electrode pulverization and rapidly fading capacity caused by its heavily changed volume during the cycle processes, which restrict its application for Li-ion batteries [9], [10], [11]. To solve these problems, CuO with various morphologies, such as low-dimensional CuO nanoparticles, CuO nanowires/nanorods, and CuO nanosheets [10], [11], [12], [13] have been successfully synthesized. These anode materials can minimize the ratio of volume change and exhibit better electrochemical performance, suggesting that the structure modification is a good solution to improve poor cyclic retention of CuO-based anode materials.

Herein, three-dimensional copper oxide microflowers (CuO-MFs) were creatively prepared by solid-state thermal conversion of precursors, following by annealing in air. The as-prepared CuO-MFs exhibited enhanced lithium storage capacity and good cyclic performance as an anode material for Li-ion batteries.

Section snippets

Material synthesis

All the chemical reagents were of analytical grade and used as purchase without any further purification. In the typical preparation, the CuO-MFs were prepared by solid-state thermal conversion of Cu(OH)2 precursors. Firstly, 0.242 g of Cu(NO3)3 and 0.728 g of CTAB were dissolved in a mixture of distilled water (20 mL) and ethanol(40 mL), the mixture was stirred with magnetic stirrer for about 10 min. Subsequently, 8 mL of NH3·H2O(25–28%) was injected quickly, and then 10 mL of NaOH (1.0 M) was added

Results and discussion

The crystal structure and phase purity of the CuO-MFs were characterized by XRD as shown in Fig. 1(a). The diffraction peaks can be readily indexed to (110), (002), (111̄), (111), (200), (202̄), (020), (202), (113̄), (311̄), (220) and (004) planes of the monoclinic phase of CuO given by the standard data file (JCPDS file nO.48-1548, space group C2/c (15), a=4.688, b=3.423, c=5.132). It can be observed that all the diffraction peaks are sharp and well defined. There are no obvious impurities

Conclusion

Three-dimensional CuO-MFs were synthesized via solid-state thermal conversion of Cu(OH)2 precursors. The dandelion-like CuO-MFs possess relatively uniform microflowers stretching along different directions with diameters 3.0–6.5 μm. Results of electrochemical measurements show that the samples have an excellent electrochemical performance with a high initial discharge capacity of 785 mA h g−1, and the reversible capacity of 350 mA h g−1 over 50 cycles at the current density of 100 mA g−1. The

Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the Introduction of Talent project (R2013CJ06), general project (Y2013CJ27) of Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, the postgraduate innovation foundation of Chongqing University of Technology (YCX2014213) and Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences (M2014 ME06).

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