Controllable fabrication of urchin-like Co3O4 hollow spheres for high-performance supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries

Fashen Chen; Xiaohe Liu; Zhian Zhang; Ning Zhang; Anqiang Pan; Shuquan Liang; Renzhi Ma

doi:10.1039/c6dt02603f

Controllable fabrication of urchin-like Co₃O₄ hollow spheres for high-performance supercapacitors and lithium-ion batteries

Dalton Trans. 2016 Sep 27;45(38):15155-15161. doi: 10.1039/c6dt02603f.

Authors

Fashen Chen¹, Xiaohe Liu¹, Zhian Zhang², Ning Zhang³, Anqiang Pan³, Shuquan Liang³, Renzhi Ma⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China. liuxh@csu.edu.cn MA.Renzhi@nims.go.jp and Institute for Materials Microstructure, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China.
² School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China. liuxh@csu.edu.cn MA.Renzhi@nims.go.jp.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410083, China. liuxh@csu.edu.cn MA.Renzhi@nims.go.jp and International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan.

PMID: 27711822
DOI: 10.1039/c6dt02603f

Abstract

Urchin-like cobalt oxide (Co₃O₄) hollow spheres can be successfully prepared by thermal decomposition of cobalt carbonate hydroxide hydrate (Co(CO₃)_0.5(OH)·0.11H₂O) obtained by template-assisted hydrothermal synthesis. The morphology, crystal structure evolution and thermal decomposition behaviors of the as-prepared products have been carefully investigated. A plausible formation mechanism of the urchin-like Co₃O₄ hollow spheres in the presence of hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as the surfactant template is proposed. The urchin-like Co₃O₄ hollow spheres are further constructed as electrode materials for high-performance supercapacitors with a high specific capacitance of 460 F g^-1 at a current density of 4 A g^-1 and excellent cycling stability. Furthermore, as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), superior lithium storage performance of 1342.2 mA h g^-1 (0.1 C) and 1122.7 mA h g^-1 (0.2 C) can also be achieved. The excellent performances can be ascribed to the unique hierarchical urchin-like hollow structure of the electrode materials, which offers a large specific surface area, short electron and ion diffusion paths and high permeability while being directly in contact with the electrolyte. Moreover, the hollow structure with sufficient internal void spaces can self-accommodate volume change during electrochemical reactions, which improves the structural stability and integrity.