Aggregation-Morphology-Dependent Electrochemical Performance of Co₃O₄ Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

The aggregation morphology of anode materials plays a vital role in achieving high performance lithium-ion batteries. Herein, Co₃O₄ anode materials with different aggregation morphologies were successfully prepared by modulating the morphology of precursors with different cobalt sources by the mild coprecipitation method. The fabricated Co₃O₄ can be flower-like, spherical, irregular, and urchin-like. Detailed investigation on the electrochemical performance demonstrated that flower-like Co₃O₄ consisting of nanorods exhibited superior performance. The reversible capacity maintained 910.7 mAh·g^-1 at 500 mA·g^-1 and 717 mAh·g^-1 at 1000 mA·g^-1 after 500 cycles. The cyclic stability was greatly enhanced, with a capacity retention rate of 92.7% at 500 mA·g^-1 and 78.27% at 1000 mA·g^-1 after 500 cycles. Electrochemical performance in long-term storage and high temperature conditions was still excellent. The unique aggregation morphology of flower-like Co₃O₄ yielded a reduction of charge-transfer resistance and stabilization of electrode structure compared with other aggregation morphologies.