Synthesis of CuCo2O4 nanoparticles as an anode material with high performance for lithium-ion batteries

Recently, the binary metal oxides (BMOs) have become a hot spot with remarkable electrochemical performance for lithium-ion batteries. In this work, the CuCo2O4 nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by a facile scalable solvothermal post-calcination method with the assistance urea as organic ligands and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as the solvent. The porous precursor played a vital role as a template to form the CuCo2O4 nanoparticles, greatly enhancing the electrochemical performance of final products. When used as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, the CuCo2O4 nanoparticles exhibited remarkable reversible specific capacity (1106.8 mAh g−1) and coulombic efficiency (99.8%) at 0.5 C over 300 cycles, capacity retention reached 84.5%. This excellent performance can be attributed to the porous morphology of precursor and the uniform nanostructure of the products. The CuCo2O4 nanoparticles also displayed remarkable rate capability, even at the 2C of current density; the charge capacity of the CuCo2O4 nanoparticles is 799.8 mAh g−1 with a coulombic efficiency of 98.4%. The excellent electrochemical performance makes the CuCo2O4 nanoparticles a aussichtsreich anode material for lithium-ion batteries.