Sea urchin-like CoO/Co/N-doped carbon matrix hybrid composites with superior high-rate performance for lithium-ion batteries

In this paper, CoO/Co/N-doped carbon matrix (NCm) hybrid composite with special sea urchin structure has been successfully fabricated via one pot hydrothermal method and combined with heat treatment using polyaniline (PANI) chains as template and carbon (nitrogen) sources, the preparation method is effective, simple and green. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy results demonstrate that N-doped carbon matrix and metal Co uniformly distributes through the whole structure, the NCm provides a highly conductive network and alleviates volume expansion during the charge/discharge process. Benefiting from the N-doped carbon matrix and Co-doping, CoO/Co/NCm composites exhibit excellent cycling stability at high-rate as anode for lithium-ion batteries. Even tested at 5 A g(-1), CoO/Co/NCm can deliver a reversible capacity of 811.2 mAh g(-1) with coulombic efficiency of similar to 100% after 1000 cycles. The as-formed porous CoO/Co/NCm electrode is promising for secondary battery applications. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V.All rights reserved.