In situ prepared reduced graphene oxide/CoO nanowires mutually-supporting porous structure with enhanced lithium storage performance

An efficient method is demonstrated to synthesize reduced graphene oxide/CoO nanowires (rGO/CoO) mutually-supporting porous structure, which is in situ prepared by annealing self-assembled graphene oxide (GO)/Co(CO₃)_0.5(OH)·0.11H₂O nanowires composite in N₂ atmosphere. The CoO nanowires are uniformly and tightly anchored on the rGO sheet surface, preventing the aggregation of the CoO nanowires and the restacking of rGO sheets. As an anode material for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), rGO/CoO electrode displays excellent electrochemical performance including a high reversible capacity of 994 mA h g^-1 even after 100 cycles with 96.3% capacity retention of the initial discharge capacity, super rate capability (718, 577, 504, 388 and 262 mA h g^-1 at 0.8, 3.2, 5, 7 and 10C, respectively, 1C = 1 A g^-1) and extremely excellent cycling performance at high rates (621 mA h g^-1 at 1C after 620 cycles; 520 mA h g^-1 at 3C even after 750 cycles).