Hollow porous Co3O4/NC@rGO derived from reuleaux tetrahedral ZIF-67 as a promising anode material for Li-ion batteries
Ruixiang Wang, Yanyang Wang, Yanhua Lu, Jiangfeng Zheng, Caini Zhong, Jiaming Liu, Jianjun Liu, Shu‐Biao Xia
Abstract
Constructing advanced nanostructures and combining various active materials are effective strategies to obtain high-performance anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Herein, we report a surface-coordinated polymerization method to synthesize ZIF-67 nanoparticles with a reuleaux tetrahedron morphology, and combine the electrostatic adsorption method and heat treatment, nitrogen-doped hollow porous Co3O4 (HP-Co3O4/NC) nanoparticles were anchored on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) to obtain HP-Co3O4/NC@rGO composites. This deliberate structural design can significantly improve the electrochemical performance of lithium (Li) storage. When applied as an anode material in LIBs, HP-Co3O4/NC@rGO nanocomposite renders a reversible capacity of 809 mAh g−1 after 200 charge/discharge cycles at a current density of 1000 mA g−1. The excellent electrochemical performance is mainly attributed to the synergistic effect of the hollow nanostructure and graphene network. A hollow nanostructure can provide abundant active sites and enhance structural stability. As a conductive network, graphene tightly wraps Co3O4, which can not only increase the electronic and ionic transport but also alleviates the volumetric changes of Co3O4 during the charge/discharge process, thereby improving the rate performance and cyclic stability.