Preparation of biomass-derived hierarchically porous carbon/Co3O4 nanocomposites as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

In this work, we demonstrated an accessible and facile method to prepare hierarchically porous carbon (HPC)/Co3O4 nanocomposites (HPCC). Biomaterials-derived HPC was used as the appropriate carrier to load /Co3O4 nanoparticles due to its hierarchically porous structure and high surface area of 163 m(2) g(-1). The HPCC nanocomposites were used as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and showed good electrochemical performance, delivering an initial discharge of 1566 and charge capacity of 1314 mA h g(-1) with a initial coulombic efficiency of 83.9%. Additionally, it could still maintain a high reversible capacity of 1215 mA h g(-1) after 100 cycles at a specific current of 100 mA g(-1), which is much better than that of HPC, and Co3O4 and some Co3O4-based nanocomposites. The good electrochemical performance was mainly attributed to the good distribution of small Co3O4 on HPC, the high surface area and hierarchical pores of HPC to effectively load a number of small Co3O4, alleviate the severe volume expansion during cycling and improve the electrical conductivity of nanocomposites, and the synergistic effects from the HPC and Co3O4. Therefore, the HPCC nanocomposites were expected to be an advanced anode material for LIBs. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.