3D intra-stacked CoO/carbon nanocomposites welded by Ag nanoparticles for high-capacity, reversible lithium storage.

A wet-chemical, facile strategy is proposed for forming three-dimensional intra-structured nanocomposites to facilitate the development of high performance anodes for lithium ion batteries. The nanocomposites are composed of cobalt oxide nanoparticles, reduced graphene oxides, and Ag nanoparticles, and all the constituent materials are incorporated homogenously in a layer-by-layer structured geometry by a simple sono-chemical hybridizing process in a single, one-pot batch. Herein, it is revealed that the homogenously intra-stacked oxide, carbon, and metallic phases play critical roles in determining electrochemical performance (i.e. high capacity, rate capability, and cycling stability) of nanocomposite-based anodes, owing to the characteristic chemical/physical nature of constituent materials welded by partial melting of the metallic nanoparticles. In particular, by virtue of a characteristic role of a nano-Ag phase in suppressing the irreversible capacity, a critical drawback for metal oxide-based anodes, excellent capacities are demonstrated (983 and 770 mA h g(-1) at current densities of 100 and 2000 mA g(-1), respectively).