Abstract
Cobalt oxide, Co3O4, one of the most important metal oxides and p-type semiconductor, has been found wide spread applications in many important fields, including solar cell photo-catalysts and supercapacitors or lithium-ion batteries. Usually, properties of the material depends on its special morphology. Different morphologies of cobalt oxide such as cubes, sheets, wires and tubes have been synthesized[1][2].
In this work, a novel flower-like Co3O4 has been produced by calcining the precursor, which was obtained through a simple hydrothemal method. The unique hierarchical architecture is able to shorten Li+diffusion paths and accommodate the volume change of the materials during charge/discharge process. Electrochemical evaluation demonstrates its potential application as anode material for lithium ion batteries. Fig. 1 shows the cycle life of cobalt oxide, the inserted picture a and b are the TEM images of precusor and cobalt oxide, respectively.
references：
[1] Lou X W, Deng D, Lee J Y, et al. Advanced Materials, 2008, 20(2): 258-262.
[2] Tian L, Zou H, Fu J, et al. Advanced Functional Materials, 2010, 20(4): 617-623.
