Preparation and Electrochemical Performance of New Cellular Structure Si/Co3O4Composite Material

A novel honeycomb-like Si/Co3O4 anode composite was prepared through sonication dispersing, hydrothermal growth and calcinaton successively. The composition and morphology were characterized by XRD, SEM and TEM. Its electrochemical performances were tested with half cells using CV, GC, RC and EIS characterizations. Results showed that Si particles are well embedded in the porous structure, and the composite anodes manifest much better stability, cycle performance and rate performance than the pristine silicon. The composite anode delivered an initial discharge capacity of 1475 mAh g-1, with 851 mAh/g maintained at 2nd cycle. After 75cycles, the discharge capacity was maintained at 802 mAh g-1, suggesting a loss of 0.77%/cycle Vs. 2nd discharge capacity. The improvement are mainly attributed to that the pores well alleviate the volume expansion of Si particles inside and this slows down the anode degradation.