High Electrochemical Performance
of Monodisperse NiCo<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> Mesoporous Microspheres
as an Anode Material for Li-Ion Batteries
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Abstract
Binary metal oxides have been regarded as ideal and potential
anode materials, which can ameliorate and offset the electrochemical
performance of the single metal oxides, such as reversible capacity,
structural stability and electronic conductivity. In this work, monodisperse
NiCo<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> mesoporous microspheres are fabricated
by a facile solvothermal method followed by pyrolysis of the Ni<sub>0.33</sub>Co<sub>0.67</sub>CO<sub>3</sub> precursor. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller
(BET) surface area of NiCo<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> mesoporous microspheres
is determined to be about 40.58 m<sup>2</sup> g<sup>–1</sup> with dominant pore diameter of 14.5 nm and narrow size distribution
of 10–20 nm. Our as-prepared NiCo<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> products
were evaluated as the anode material for the lithium-ion-battery (LIB)
application. It is demonstrated that the special structural features
of the NiCo<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> microspheres including uniformity
of the surface texture, the integrity and porosity exert significant
effect on the electrochemical performances. The discharge capacity
of NiCo<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> microspheres could reach 1198 mA
h g<sup>–1</sup> after 30 discharge–charge cycles at
a current density of 200 mA g<sup>–1</sup>. More importantly,
when the current density increased to 800 mA·g<sup>–1</sup>, it can render reversible capacity of 705 mA h g<sup>–1</sup> even after 500 cycles, indicating its potential applications for
next-generation high power lithium ion batteries (LIBs). The superior
battery performance is mainly attributed to the unique micro/nanostructure
composed of interconnected NiCo<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> nanocrystals,
which provides good electrolyte diffusion and large electrode–electrolyte
contact area, and meanwhile reduces volume change during charge/discharge
process. The strategy is simple but very effective, and because of
its versatility, it could be extended to other high-capacity metal
oxide anode materials for LIBs