Li-storage performances of flower-like CuO/ZnO nanoparticles derived from bimetallic CuZn-L-phenylalanine precursor

CuO and ZnO are two common cost-effective anode active materials in lithium battery (LIB), which possess their individual advantages and shortages. In order to combine their merits and make full use of the synergism effect, dual CuO/ZnO oxides were designed and synthesized by facile calcination of CuZn-L-phenylalanine in air, in which better fusion of two different phases was the target by adopting the bimetallic organic framework compound as the precursor and tuning the Zn/Cu ratio. As expected, the weight contents of CuO within dual CuO/ZnO oxides can be determined to be 20 wt% and 80 wt%, and the resultant composite oxides were marked as 1-CuO/ZnO and 2-CuO/ZnO, respectively. 1-CuO/ZnO appeared as the mixed morphologies of nanoparticles and nanosheets, while 2-CuO/ZnO showed the uniform flower-like nanoparticles with the mean particle size about 600 nm. Furthermore, flower-like 2-CuO/ZnO nanoparticles delivered the reversible capacities of 641.9 mAh/g at 100 mA/g and 365.9 mAh/g at 1 A/g, higher than Zn-rich 1-CuO/ZnO composite anode due to better fusion, higher desirable synergistic effect of 2-CuO/ZnO with more suitable ratio of Cu/Zn. No doubt, these results may inspire more interests to design the well-defined bimetallic oxide anode.