Synthesis and Electrochemical Properties of CuCo2O4 as Anode Material for Lithium-Ion Battery

The precursors of CuCo2O4 (CCO) were synthesized by ball-milling method and solvothermal method, respectively. The precursors were further heat-treated at a low temperature (450 degrees C) in air to obtain CuCo2O4. The SEM results showed that the CCO (B-CCO) whose precursor was synthesized by ball-milling method present uneven particles, while the CCO (S-CCO) whose precursor was synthesized by solvothermal method takes on microsphere morphology. When tested as anode materials for lithium ion battery (LIB), the as-prepared CuCo2O4 (S-CCO) synthesized by solvothermal method followed with pyrolysis exhibits better electrochemical performance than that for CuCo2O4 (B-CCO) synthesized by ball-milling method followed with pyrolysis. Both the B-CCO and S-CCO exhibit high discharge capacities, good cycling stability and rate performance as anode materials for LIB. Especially, S-CCO behaves a large initial capacity of 1230 mAh/g, whose reversible capacity can matain as high as 635 mAh/g after 100 cycles, showing better rate performance compared with the B-CCO. The good electrochemical performance suggests that CuCo2O4 could be a promising candidate as a novel anode material for LIB applications, and our present work provides a new and simple approach to the fabrication of binary metal oxides (BMOs).