journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/nanoenergy Available online at www.sciencedirect.com RAPID COMMUNICATION Multifunctional Ni/NiO hybrid nanomembranes as anode materials for high-rate Li-ion batteries Xiaolei Sun a,b,n , Wenping Si a,b , Xianghong Liu a , Junwen Deng a,b , Lixia Xi c , Lifeng Liu d , Chenglin Yan a,e,n , Oliver G. Schmidt a,b,f a Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, IFW Dresden, Helmholtzstrasse 20, Dresden 01069, Germany b Material Systems for Nanoelectronics, Chemnitz University of Technology, Reichenhainer Strasse 70, Chemnitz 09107, Germany c Institute for Complex Materials, IFW Dresden, Helmholtzstrasse 20, Dresden 01069, Germany d International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), 4715-330 Braga, Portugal e School of Energy, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215006, PR China f Cluster of Excellence MERGE, Reichenhainer Strasse 70, Chemnitz 09126, Germany Received 24 April 2014; received in revised form 16 June 2014; accepted 21 June 2014 Available online 30 July 2014 KEYWORDS Li-ion batteries; Anodes; Transition metal oxi- des; Nickel oxides; Nanocomposites Abstract Herein we present the preparation of novel multifunctional metallic nickel/oxide (Ni/NiO) hybrid nanomembranes with rough and undulating surface morphologies, by a physical deposition method combined with chemical etching and thermal oxidation. Benefiting from the advantages of intrinsic architecture and electrochemical catalysis of metallic nickel, the anodes can be discharged and charged at an ultrahigh rate of  115 C (1 C = 718 mA g 1 ) if only the mass of NiO is taken into calculation or 60 C if the total mass of Ni/NiO nanomembranes is considered. To our knowledge, this is the best reported rate performance for NiO-based anodes in Li-ion batteries to date. Furthermore, excellent cycling stability is also demonstrated. & 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction The development of high performance Li-ion batteries (LIBs) is critically important for next generation portable electro- nics, electric vehicles, and the storage of renewable energy [1–5]. To meet these extensive demands, diverse electrode http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2014.06.022 2211-2855/& 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. n Corresponding author E-mail addresses: x.sun@ifw-dresden.de (X. Sun), c.yan@suda.edu.cn (C. Yan). Nano Energy (2014) 9, 168–175