Nanoparticle Decorated Ultrathin Porous Nanosheets as Hierarchical Co₃O₄ Nanostructures for Lithium Ion Battery Anode Materials

We report a facile synthesis of a novel cobalt oxide (Co3O4) hierarchical nanostructure, in which crystalline core-amorphous shell Co3O4 nanoparticles with a bimodal size distribution are uniformly dispersed on ultrathin Co3O4 nanosheets. When tested as anode materials for lithium ion batteries, the as-prepared Co3O4 hierarchical electrodes delivered high lithium storage properties comparing to the other Co3O4 nanostructures, including a high reversible capacity of 1053.1 mAhg-1 after 50 cycles at a current density of 0.2 C (1 C = 890 mAg-1), good cycling stability and rate capability.