CoFe2O4 nanoparticles anchored on bowl-like carbon backbone for enhanced reversible lithium storage

A bowl-like carbon backbone supported CoFe2O4 nanoparticles (CoFe2O4 NPs@C) composite was successfully synthesized and used as a high performance anode in lithium batteries. The as-prepared hierarchical structure takes full use of favorable characteristics of individual components down to the nano-sized building block, i.e., high specific capacities of CoFe2O4 NPs and volume change buffering of the bowl-like carbon during charge/discharge cycles. Moreover, the bowl-like carbon architecture sufficiently realizes the space-efficient packing of electrode materials to augment the energy density of batteries. Owing to the efficient combination of individual merits, the CoFe2O4 NPs@C composite presents superior lithium storage properties. Even after 200 cycles at current density of 400 mAh g(-1), the as-prepared material exhibits a discharge capacity of 1111.5 mA h g(-1).