Stabilizing Co3O4 nanorods/N-doped graphene as advanced anode for lithium-ion batteries

Tricobalt tetroxide (Co3O4) is one of the promising anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to its high theoretical capacity. However, the poor electrical conductivity and the rapid capacity decay hamper its practical application. In this work, we design and fabricate a hierarchical Co3O4 nanorods/N-doped graphene (Co3O4/NG) material by a facile hydrothermal method. The nitrogen-doped graphene layers could buffer the volume change of Co3O4 nanorods during the delithium/lithium process, increase the electrical conductivity, and profit the diffusion of ions. As an anode, the Co3O4/NG material reveals high specific capacities of 1873.8 mA·h·g−1 after 120 cycles at 0.1 A·g−1 as well as 1299.5 mA·h·g−1 after 400 cycles at 0.5 A·g−1. Such superior electrochemical performances indicate that this work may provide an effective method for the design and synthesis of other metal oxide/N-doped graphene electrode materials.