Nano Energy (2014) 6, 1926

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/nanoenergy

RAPID COMMUNICATION

Three-dimensional hierarchical Co3O4/CuO

nanowire heterostructure arrays on nickel
foam for high-performance lithium ion
batteries
Jiexi Wanga,1, Qiaobao Zhangb,1, Xinhai Lia,n, Daguo Xub,
Zhixing Wanga, Huajun Guoa, Kaili Zhangb,n

a
School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, 932 South Lushan Road, Changsha
410083, PR China
b
Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee
Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Received 15 November 2013; received in revised form 24 February 2014; accepted 27 February 2014
Available online 13 March 2014

KEYWORDS Abstract
Copper oxide; Novel three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical Co3O4/CuO nanowire (NW) arrays on nickel foam
Cobalt oxide; composed of CuO NW stems and Co3O4 nanosheet branches are synthesized by combining a
Heterostructure facile, scalable, and cost-effective thermal oxidation method with a simple but powerful
array; chemical bath deposition followed by a calcination process. These arrays are further
Anode;
investigated as binder- and conductive-agent-free anodes for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The
Lithium-ion battery
smart hybridization of CuO NWs and Co3O4 nanosheets into hierarchical core/shell array
conguration results in remarkably enhanced electrochemical performances with good cycle
performance, high reversible capacity, and excellent rate capability compared with pure CuO
NW and single net-like Co3O4 nanosheets. A high reversible capacity of 1191 mAh g 1 with 90.9%
capacity retention after 200 cycles at a current density of 200 mA g 1, and reversible capacity
up to 810 mAh g 1 even after 500 cycles at a current density as high as 1000 mA g 1 can be
maintained. The superior electrochemical performances of electrodes composed of hierarchical
Co3O4/CuO NW arrays connected directly on nickel foam make them potential anode materials
for high-performance LIBs.
& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

n
Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: xinhaili_csu@126.com (X. Li), kaizhang@cityu.edu.hk (K. Zhang).
1
These authors contributed equally to this work.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2014.02.012
2211-2855/& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
20
Introduction
Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are one of the dominant power
sources for portable electronics and the most promising
candidate for complete power electric vehicles, and are
receiving widespread interests because of their high energy
density, long cycle life, and lightweight [16]. Nanostruc-
tured transition metal oxides are attracting intensive
research attention as potential electrode materials for LIBs
because of their higher specic capacity than carbon/
graphite-based materials and ease of large-scale fabrication
[1,4,5,710]. However, given their intrinsic properties (e.g.,
inferior electrical conductivity, poor ion transport kinetics,
and large volume expansion and contraction during dis-
chargecharge processes), single-phase nanostructured
metal oxides alone as electrodes for LIBs have limitations,
including large initial irreversible capacity loss and poor
capacity retention over extended cycling, which leads to
unsatisfactory cyclability relative to the commercial stan-
dard (4001200 cycles) [1,2,11,12]. To overcome such draw-
backs and boost the electrochemical performances, novel
nanostructured hybrid electrode materials with advanced
architectures have been fabricated and designed [1,2,
1115]. In particular, three-dimensional (3D) branched
coreshell nanowire (NW) heterostructures grown directly
on conductive substrate are of great interest because of
their large surface areas, efcient electron transfer, fast ion
transport, easy electrolyte access to electrode, and good
strain accommodation [1,2,12,1420]. In these hybrid
nanostructures aligned on conductive substrates, the con-
ductive substrates not only serve as a physical support of
this kind of nanoarrays but also provide the channels for
charge transport, which are benecial to maximize the
utilization of electrochemically active materials. The suf-
cient free space between individual hybrid nanoarrays
allows fast Li + ux across the interface and alleviates the
volume change during the dischargecharge process. More-
over, hybrid nanostructures with two or more components
exhibit fascinating synergetic properties through a reinfor-
cement or modication of each other that would not be
possible for materials with a single component. In addition,
the requirement of binders or conducting additives that add
extra weight is eliminated because of the direct connection
to the current-carrying electrode by the self-supporting
branched NW arrays.
Therefore, various 3D branched core/shell NW hetero-
structures with fascinating enhanced properties or multi-
functionalities have been intensively investigated [11
14,17,2027]. For example, Zhou et al. [19] reported the
synthesis of 3D branched -Fe2O3/SnO2 NW heterostructures
on stainless steels as anode for LIBs, which exhibit low initial
irreversible capacity loss and high reversible capacity com-
pared with both single SnO2 NWs and Fe2O3 nanorods. Xiong
et al. [15] described the preparation of hierarchical Fe2O3@-
NiO core/shell nanorod array on carbon cloth as anode for
LIBs, which delivers a high discharge capacity of 1047.2 mAh
g 1 after 50 cycles at 200 mA g 1 and 783.3 mAh g 1 even
at a high current density of 2000 mA g 1. Saadat et al. [11]
demonstrated the fabrication of hierarchical Fe3O4/CuO
hybrid wires grown directly on copper substrate for LIBs
with high specic capacity, good cycling stability, and
excellent rate capability, which deliver a discharge capacity
J. Wang et al.
of 953 mAh g 1 during the 100th cycle at 820 mA g 1.
Nevertheless, numerous efforts are still required in the
rational design and facile synthesis of hybrid heterostruc-
tures with well-dened morphologies, tunable functions,
low cost, low growth temperature, process simplicity, and
large scale for high-performance LIBs.
The thermal oxidation of sputtered Co lm on CuO NWs pre-
synthesized by thermal oxidation of copper foil has been
recently reported, and enhanced photocatalytic performance
has been demonstrated [28]. However, to the best of our
knowledge, no report exists on the synthesis of Co3O4 nanos-
tructures by simple and effective chemical bath deposition
(CBD) at relatively low temperature on pre-synthesized CuO
NWs on nickel foam via thermal oxidation of e-beam evapo-
rated Cu lm, and the use of these nanostructures as binder-
and conductive-agent-free electrodes for LIBs.
In this study, we describe the successful synthesis of 3D
hierarchical Co3O4/CuO NW heterostructure arrays based on
CuO NW array grown directly on nickel foam by facile and
scalable CBD combined with thermal oxidation. These arrays
are further investigated as binder- and conductive-agent-free
electrodes for high-performance LIBs. This conguration offers
many remarkable advantages, such as large interfacial area for
fast lithium insertion/extraction, short diffusion, and direct
one-dimensional pathway for electron and Li + ion, which are
more favorable for the signicant enhancement of the electro-
chemical performances. Compared with the single CuO NWs
and Co3O4 nanosheets, the composite electrode exhibits a
potential synergistic effect with remarkably enhanced electro-
chemical performances in terms of large reversible capacity,
excellent cycle performance, and outstanding rate capability.
Experimental section
Synthesis of CuO NWs on nickel foam
Commercially available nickel foam with a thickness of
0.5 mm and 7.0  7.0 cm2 in size from Changsha Lyrun New
Materials Co. Ltd. was used as a conductive substrate. The
nickel foam was ultrasonically cleaned in alcohol for 10 min,
adequately rinsed with alcohol and distilled water, and blow-
dried by compressed air. The nickel foam was then placed
inside a conventional electron beam evaporation system
(JunSun EBS-500). After the vacuum level in the chamber
reached 1.6  10 6 Torr, a layer of copper with thickness of
2 mm was deposited onto the nickel foam by e-beam evapora-
tion. The nickel foam with a Cu lm was heated in a furnace
for 12 h at 400 1C in static air to grow CuO NWs (EB-CuO NWs).
The furnace was then naturally cooled to room temperature.
Synthesis of hierarchical Co3O4/CuO NW
heterostructure arrays
In a typical procedure, 3.16 g of (0.075 M) cobalt(II) sulfate
heptahydrate and 10.22 g of urea (1.134 M) were dissolved in
150 mL of distilled water in a 250 mL Pyrex beaker and stirred
to form a clear pink solution. The as-prepared CuO NW arrays
on nickel foam with 4.5 cm(width)  6.8 cm(length) in size and
backside coated with polyimide tape were immersed in the
mixture, which was sealed by aluminum foil, maintained
at 85 1C for 0.54 h, and cooled to room temperature. The
High-performance lithium ion batteries 21

Figure 1 (a) Schematic diagram for illustrating the fabrication procedure of CuO/Co3O4 core/shell heterostructure nanowire arrays
on nickel foam; SEM images of (b, c) CuO NWs and (d, e) CuO/Co3O4 core/shell heterostructure nanowire arrays on nickel foam;
(f, g, h) TEM and (i) HRTEM images of Co3O4/CuO heterostructure arrays on nickel foam.

substrates were then taken out from the solution, rinsed with
distilled water, and ultrasonically cleaned in alcohol for
several times. Finally, the as-fabricated samples were
annealed at 350 1C in air for 2 h to prepare hierarchical
Co3O4/CuO NW heterostructure arrays. For comparison, the
Co3O4 nanostructures grown directly on Ni foam (CBD-Co3O4)
were synthesized under the same condition.
Sample characteristics
The morphology, crystalline structure, and composition of
the as-grown CuO NWs, Co3O4 nanostructures and hierarch-
ical Co3O4/CuO NW heterostructure arrays were character-
ized by eld-emission scanning electron microscopy (Hitachi
S4800), transmission electron microscopy (TEM; FEI Tecnai
G220) and X-ray diffraction ( RigakuSmartLab XRD).
and punched to form 14 mm diameter disks. A metal lithium foil
was used as the counter and reference electrodes, and the
CR2025 half cells were assembled in a dry Ar-lled glove box
using a polypropylene micro-porous lm as a separator and 1 M
LiPF6 in EC/DMC/EMC (1:1:1, in volume) as electrolyte. The
electrochemical performance of cells was evaluated by dis-
charging and charging over a voltage range of 30.01 V vs. Li/
Li + at room temperature with a Land BT-10 Tester (Wuhan,
China). Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impe-
dance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements were conducted by an
electrochemical work station (CHI660A) with a three-electrode
system incorporating Co3O4/CuO NW heterostructure arrays as
the working electrode and Li foils as counter and reference
electrodes. The CV tests were performed at a scanning rate of
0.1 mV s 1. The impedance spectra were recorded by applying
an AC voltage of 5 mV amplitude in the working frequency
range of 10 2 Hz to 105 Hz.

Electrochemical properties
Results and discussion
The details about the determination of active mass are ava-
ilable in sopporting information. To investigate the electroche- Microstructure characteristiscs
mical performance, the synthesized hierarchical Co3O4/CuO NW
heterostructure arrays grown directly on nickel foam substrate The fabrication procedure for the 3D hierarchical Co3O4/
as working electrodes were dried in vacuum for 12 h at 120 1C, CuO NW heterostructure arrays on nickel foam is illustrated
22
in Figure 1(a). First, large-scale well-aligned CuO NWs are
grown on nickel foam after the thermal oxidation of e-beam
evaporated Cu lm as stems to provide a platform for later
Co3O4 growth, which can alleviate conventional aggrega-
tion. Subsequently, Co3O4 nanobranches are grown uni-
formly on CuO NW stems by a facile, yet effective CBD
followed by a calcination process to form the 3D hierarch-
ical Co3O4/CuO NW heterostructure arrays. The diameter,
length, density, and morphology of the secondary Co3O4
nanobranches can be tailored by changing the reaction time
(Figure S1), precursor concentration (Figure S2), and cobalt
(II) salt (Figure S3). More interestingly, this simple, ef-
cient, and versatile CBD strategy can be readily extended to
the growth of secondary nanostructures of Co3O4 on various
primary nanostructures, such as CuO nanoowers on Cu
foam, CuO nanowires on Cu foam, Si NWs on Si substrate,
and NiSix NWs on Ni foam (Figure S4). The growth mechan-
ism responsible for the formation of the secondary Co3O4
nanosheets is attributed to the oriented attachment and
self-assembly processes, which have been conrmed by the branched Co3O4 nanosheets are highly porous and
reported results [12,23].
SEM images of CuO NWs in Figure 1(b, c) show that large-
scale CuO NWs with an average diameter of 40 nm and
length ranging from 5 mm to 10 mm are grown compactly on
the surface of nickel foam with good uniformity. No cracking
or aking is found on nickel foam, which indicates good
Figure 2 TEM elemental mapping and STEM scan spectra of the Co3O4/CuO NWs heterostructure.
J. Wang et al.
mechanical adhesion between CuO NWs and nickel foam
(Figure S5). SEM images of Co3O4 nanostructues grown
directly on nickel foam demonstrate that the surface of
nickel foam are covered by high density of net-like Co3O4
nanosheets that are composed by numerous interconnected
nanograins on the surface of nickel foam (Figure S6). After
the growth of Co3O4 by CBD followed by a calcination
process, it is evidently obseved from the SEM images in
Figure 1(d, e) that secondary Co3O4 nanosheet branches
with high density are successfully grown on the surface of
CuO NWs with good uniformity, causing them to become
thicker and have a rougher surface. The void space between
neighboring heterostructure array is still sufcient, which is
favorable for easy electrolyte penetration and accommoda-
tion of volume expansion during Li + uptake/removal.
A typical TEM image of an individual Co3O4/CuO NW
heterostructure [Figure 1(f)] reveals that the CuO NW core
is fully coated with branched Co3O4 nanosheets. The
magnied images [Figure 1(g, h)] clearly demonstrate that
composed of many interconnected tiny nanocrystals with
crystal size of 515 nm. The sizes of the mesopores in the
Co3O4 nanosheets, which are characterized by nitrogen
isothermal adsorptiondesorption measurement, range from
210 nm with narrow pore size distribution (Figure S7). The
HRTEM image [Figure 1(i)] shows clear fringes with a
High-performance lithium ion batteries
measured interplanar spacing of 0.46 nm that correspond to
the interplanar distance of the (111) plane of cubic Co3O4,
which agrees well with the reported results [12,21,29,30].
To further conrm the successful formation of Co3O4/CuO
NW heterostructure, TEM elemental mapping was con-
ducted. Figure 2 shows that the Co and O signals are
uniformly distributed over the backbone and branch region,
whereas the Cu signals are only dominant in the backbone
region, which unambiguously reveals the growth of Co3O4
shell on the surface of CuO NW core. The elemental
distribution of Co, Cu, and O in the backbone and branches
was further analyzed by scanning TEM scan line. The Co
signals are strongly detected in the backbone and branches,
whereas the Cu signals are only dominant in the backbone
region. These aforementioned characterizations conrm the
successful synthesis of branched Co3O4 nanosheets on the
surface of CuO NWs by the facile CBD, which can be further
proved by SAED (Figure S8) and XRD patterns (Figure S9) of
the prepared samples.
Electrochemical performance evaluations
Stimulated by the novel 3D hierarchical CuO/Co3O4 core/
shell nanowire array architectures, their lithium storage
properties have been investigated. Figure 3(a) displays the
representative CV curves of as-fabricated CuO/Co3O4 core/
shell NW array anode in the voltage range of 30.01 V.
The current densities, peak currents, and integrated area
of CuO/Co3O4 core/shell NW arrays in CV curves are
signicantly higher than those of individual EB-CuO NWs
[Figure S10(a)] and CBD-Co3O4 [Figure S10(b)], which indi-
cates that both undergo an electrochemical reaction toward
Li + and higher electrochemical reaction activity of the
core/shell NW arrays. In the rst cathodic scan, an intense
peak at 0.55 V and a weak broad peak at 0.87 V can be
clearly observed, corresponding to the reduction of CuO to
Cu and Co3O4 to Co, as well as the formation of amorphous
Li2O and solid electrolyte interphase [30,31]. However,
distinguishing between the cathodic peaks of CuO and
Co3O4 in the potential range of 0.51.2 V is difcult because
of their overlap. In the rst anodic oxidation process, the
oxidative peaks at around 1.48 and 2.21 V can be indexed to
the oxidation of metals (Cu and Co) to metal oxides
[11,30,32,33]. In the subsequent cycles, all reductive and
oxidative peaks are found to shift to higher potentials and
show good reproducibility, suggesting high reversibility of
lithium storage. Figure 3(b) compares the rst, second,
third, 100th, and 200th chargedischarge proles of CuO/
Co3O4 core/shell NW array anode in the potential range of
3.0 V to 0.01 V vs. Li/Li + . The CuO/Co3O4 core/shell NW
array electrode delivers remarkably improved initial dis-
charge capacity of 1633 mAh g 1 and charge capacity of
1310 mAh g 1, which is signicantly higher than that of
single EB-CuO NWs [Figure S10(c), initial discharge and
charge capacities of 1063 and 598 mAh g 1, respecitivly]
and CBD-Co3O4 nanosheets [Figure S10(d), initial discharge
and charge capacities of 1256 and 858 mAh g 1, respeci-
tivly]. Compared with single EB-CuO NWs (56.2%) and CBD-
Co3O4 nanosheets (68.5%), the composite electrode also
exhibits the highest initial coulombic efciency of 80.2%.
The initial irreversible capacity loss of composite electrode
23
can be ascribed to SEI lm formation and electrolyte
decomposition, which is common in metal oxide anodes
and has been conrmed by many studies [11,17,29,34,35]. In
the subsequent cycle, the coulombic efciency of composite
electrode increases to almost 100%, which indicates high
dischargecharge reversibility. The Co3O4/CuO hybrid shows
no obvious capacity fading in the rst 140 cycles and
gradually decreases in 140 to 200 cycles, maintaining a
specic capacity of 1191 mAh g 1 with 90.9% capacity
retention after 200 cycles at a current density of 200 mA g 1
[Figure 3(c)], which is substantially higher than that of
single CBD-Co3O4 nanosheets [Figure S10(e), 664 mAh g 1
after 100 cycles], EB-CuO NWs [Figure S10(f), 554 mAh g 1
after 100 cycles], and other metal oxide composite anodes
[13,15,17,36]. The specic capacities exceed the theoreti-
cal values (890 mAh g 1 for Co3O4 and 674 mAh g 1 for
CuO), which can be correlated with enhanced Li + storage
in the surface polymer layer [11,3739]. In addition, the
nickel foam can be partially oxidized in the synthesis process
of EB-CuO NWs and contributes about 2.5% capacity of the
composite electrode (Figure S11). The large capacity and
initial coulombic efciency difference between the CuO/
Co3O4 core/shell NW array and its corresponding single
components can be attributed to a synergetic contribution
from the CuO NW core and branch Co3O4 nanosheets.
Figure 3(d) shows that when a high current density
of 1000 mA g 1 is applied, superior capacity retention is
still exhibited. A reversible capacity of 810 mAh g 1 is still
maintained after 500 cycles with almost 100% capacity
retention. Furthermore, the composite electrode can also
exhibit excellent rate performance. As shown in Figure 3(e),
the rst-cycle charge capacities of composite electrode are
1318, 1038, 805, 700, 631, and 580 mAh g 1 at the current
densities of 200, 500, 1000, 1500, 2000, and 2500 mA g 1,
respectively. When the high current density is reversed back
to low current density, the original high capacity can be
regained, which indicates excellent reversibility. Many fac-
tors (e.g., reaction time) affect the properties of Co3O4/CuO
hybrids. Figure 3(f) shows the cycling performance of CuO/
Co3O4 core/shell NW array prepared at 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 h at a
current density of 200 mA g 1, respectively. The samples
prepared for 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 h deliver the initial reversible
capacities of 1233, 1073, 1310, and 651 mAh g 1 with the
coulombic efciencies of 51.9%, 73.0%, 80.2%, and 68.5%,
and maintain reversible capacities of 895, 851, 1191, and
527 mAh g 1 after 200 cycles, respectively.
To further understand the advantage of CuO/Co3O4
core/shell NW array electrode, the as-fabricated EB-CuO
NWs, CBD-Co3O4, and CuO/Co3O4 core/shell NW array
electrode at open-circuit potential after three cycles were
analyzed by EIS. As shown in Figure 4, the Nyquist plots are
composed of one semicircle followed by a slope line. The
semicircle represents the charge-transfer impedance of
the cell. The Co3O4/CuO hybrid has the least charge-
transfer impedance than EB-CuO NWs and CBD-Co3O4,
which indicates enhanced electrochemical kinetics of
Co3O4/CuO hybrid anode.
The remarkably improved electrochemical properties, in
terms of excellent cycle performance, high reversible
capacity, and good rate capability, of 3D hierarchical
Co3O4/CuO heterostructure arrays compared with their
corresponding single counterparts should originate from
24 J. Wang et al.

Figure 3 Electrochemical performance of as-fabricated Co3O4/CuO heterostructure arrays anode: (a) CV curves at the scanning
rate of 0.01 mV s 1; (b) dischargecharge curves at 200 mA g 1 in different cycles; (c) cycling performance at 200 mA g 1;
(d) cycling ability at 1000 mA g 1; (e) rate capability of as-fabricated Co3O4/CuO heterostructure arrays anode; (f) cycling
performance at 200 mA g 1 of Co3O4/CuO hybrids prepared for different reaction time.

the unique architecture, including the well-aligned CuO NW
cores, highly porous branch Co3O4 nanosheet shells, and
ordered porous array conguration. Moreover, the improved
properties should also be attributed to the promising
synergistic effect between the CuO NW core and porous
branch Co3O4 nanosheet shell, which can be understood
from the following aspects. First, the direct attachment and
close contact of vertical hierarchical architecture on the
current collector enable good mechanical adhesion and fast
charge transfer pathways. This phenomenon eliminates the
need for binders or conducting additives and substantially
reduces the dead volume in the electrode, which is more
favorable for ion diffusion from the electrolyte to the
electrode surface. Second, the porous core/shell array
conguration largely increases the amount of contact areas
between electrolyte and active materials. Both the shell
and core are fully accessible to the electrolyte, and the
large area greatly facilitates ion and electron diffusion.
Meanwhile, the highly porous Co3O4 nanosheet branches are
well wrapped on the surface of CuO NWs, which can provide
high surface area for Li + intercalation and structural
exibility for volume change. Third, the open structure in
the hierarchical heterostructure provides sufcient space to
buffer the volume changes during the charge/discharge
process. Finally, the synergistic contribution from the CuO
NW core and highly porous branch Co3O4 nanosheet shell
layer should be another factor responsible for the enhance-
ment in the performance of LIBs.
High-performance lithium ion batteries
Figure 4 Nyquist plots of (a) EB-CuO NWs, (b) CBD-Co3O4, and (c) Co3O4/CuO hybrid at open-circuit voltage after 3 cycles.
Conclusion
In summary, 3D hierarchical CuO/Co3O4 core/shell NW arrays
grown directly on nickel foam have been successfully synthe-
sized by a scalable and cost-effective thermal oxidation method
combined with simple yet effective CBD followed by calcina-
tion. Beneting from the combination of CuO NWs with highly
porous Co3O4 nanosheets, the as-obtained coreshell hetero-
structured array electrode exhibits high reversible capacity,
improved cycling stability, and excellent rate capability than its
corresponding single counterpart electrodes. The improved
electrochemical performance can be attributed to the syner-
getic contribution from the well-aligned CuO NW core and
highly porous Co3O4 shell together with the ordered array
architecture. Given the outstanding performance and simple,
efcient, cost-effective fabrication, we believe that these 3D
CuO/Co3O4 coreshell heterostructured arrays have great
potential application in high-performance LIBs.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by a Grant from the Research
Grants Council, University Grants Committee, Hong Kong
(Project no. CityU 125412), the National Basic Research
Program of China (973 Program, 2014CB643406), and the
Hunan Provincial Innovation Foundation for Postgraduate.
Appendix A. Supporting information
Supplementary data associated with this article can be
found in the online version at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.nanoen.2014.02.012.
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[34] R. Sahay, P. Suresh Kumar, V. Aravindan, J. Sundaramurthy, neering, City University of Hong Kong. His
W. Chui Ling, S.G. Mhaisalkar, S. Ramakrishna, S. Madhavi, research interests include nanoenergetic
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X.-Y. Xue, RSC Adv. 3 (2013) 1037910384.
[37] L. Hu, N. Yan, Q. Chen, P. Zhang, H. Zhong, X. Zheng, Y. Li, Zhixing Wang received his Ph.D. in physical
X. Hu, Chem. Eur. J. 18 (2012) 89718977. chemistry from Department of Physical
[38] Y. Xiao, C. Hu, M. Cao, J. Power Sources 247 (2014) 4956. Chemistry, Central South University of Tech-
[39] K.M. Shaju, F. Jiao, A. Debart, P.G. Bruce, Phys. Chem. Chem. nology in 1998. From September 2001 to
Phys. 9 (2007) 18371842. September 2002, He worked as a visiting
scholar in Department of Applied Chemistry,
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. He is
Jiexi Wang received his Bachelor's degree in
now a professor in School of Metallurgy and
Metallurgical Engineering from Central South
Environment, CSU. His research interests
University (CSU) in 2010. He is now a Ph.D.
focus mainly on electrochemical theory,
candidate in School of Metallurgy and Envir-
electrode materials for batteries and supercapacitors, and principle
onment, Central South University supervised
of metallurgy.
by Prof. Xinhai Li. His research focuses on the
synthesis and application of nanomaterials
and composites for clean energy storage, such Huajun Guo received his Ph.D. in physical
as high-power/high-energy lithium ion bat- chemistry from Department of Physical
teries, and supercapacitors. Chemistry, CSU in 2001. He once worked in
University of British Columbia as a visiting
scholar in 20082009. Now he is a professor
Qiaobao Zhang obtained his M.S. degree in
in School of Metallurgy and Environment,
Electrochemistry from Xiamen University in
CSU. His research interests focus on carbon
2010. He is now pursuing his Ph.D. degree at
and carbon/silicon composites for lithium
Department of Mechanical and Biomedical
ion batteries, novel electrode materials,
Engineering, City University of Hong Kong.
and electrochemical characterizations.
His research focuses on the synthesis and
application of novel metal oxide nanostruc-
tures and their composites for energy sto- Kaili Zhang received his Ph.D. degree from
rage, including lithium ion batteries and National University of Singapore in 2006.
supercapacitors. He then worked as postdoctoral researchers
at French National Center for Scientic
Research (LAAS-CNRS) and Swiss Federal
Xinhai Li received his Ph.D. in physical
Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich).
chemistry from Central South University of
He is now working as an assistant professor
Technology in 1990. Currently he is a Pro-
at Department of Mechanical and Biomedi-
fessor and Director of the Engineering Cen-
cal Engineering, City University of Hong
ter for Advanced Materials for Energy
Kong. His research interests include nano-
Storage in School of Metallurgy and Envir-
materials for energy storage applications, nanoenergetic materials,
onment, CSU. He is an expert in energy
and nanoenergetics-on-a-chip. His research results have been
database of China. He mainly works on
published in Progress in Materials Science, Small, Nano Energy,
carbon materials, materials for batteries
ChemSusChem, Nano Research, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces,
and supercapacitors, design and application
Combustion and Flame, Energy, Applied Energy, etc. with a total
of energy storage and conversion systems, electrolyte for lithium
citation 4900 (h-index=16).
ion batteries, and resource-to-material metallurgy. His research
work has been published in Journal of Materials Chemistry,
Chemical Communications, Nano Energy, Nanoscale, Electrochem-
istry Communications, Journal of Power Sources, The Journal of
Physical Chemistry C, Electrochimica Acta, etc., with a total
citation 42650 (h-index=26).