Hollow (Co
0.62
Fe
1.38
)FeO
4
/NiCo
2
O
4
nanoboxes with porous shell
synthesized via chemical precipitation: A novel form as a high
performance lithium ion battery anode
Manab Kundu
a, *, 1
, Gopalu Karunakaran
b, c, **, 1
, Evgeny Kolesnikov
b
, Arkhipov Dmitry
b
,
Mikhail V. Gorshenkov
d
, Denis Kuznetsov
b
a
Department of Material Science and Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491, Trondheim, Norway
b
Department of Functional Nanosystems and High-Temperature Materials, National University of Science and Technology “MISiS”, Leninskiy Pr. 4, Moscow,
119049, Russia
c
Department of Biotechnology, K. S. Rangasamy College of Arts and Science (Autonomous), Tiruchengode, 637215, Tamil Nadu, India
d
Department of Physical Materials Science, National University of Science and Technology “MISiS”, Leninskiy Pr. 4, Moscow,119049, Russia
article info
Article history:
Received 22 January 2017
Received in revised form
22 March 2017
Accepted 24 March 2017
Available online 27 March 2017
Keywords:
Mixed metal oxides
Hollow nanoboxes
Energy storage and conversion
Lithium-ion batteries
Electrochemical performance
abstract
Transition metal oxides containing different metal cations, also called as mixed metal oxides (MMOs),
have confirmed improved electrochemical activities in comparison with single metal oxides (SMOs,
containing single metal cations). In this study, for the first time, we have synthesized the hollow
(Co
0.62
Fe
1.38
)FeO
4
/NiCo
2
O
4
nanoboxes by simple and cost effective chemical precipitation method and
investigated its lithium storage property. The uniqueness of this composite material is the hollow nano-
structure with a very thin porous shell, which has rarely reported previously. The observed surface area
of nanoboxes is 21.8 m
2
g
1
with average pore size of 4 nm. As a results, the (Co
0.62
Fe
1.38
)FeO
4
/NiCo
2
O
4
nanoboxes manifests a high reversible capacity of around 835.5 and 676.2 mAh g
1
over 350 cycles at a
current densities of 200 and 500 mA g
1
, respectively. The nano-dimention with hollow structure not
only benefited electron and Li-ion transportation, it also provided large electrodeeelectrolyte contact
area. Furthermore, the high reversible capacity in (Co
0.62
Fe
1.38
)FeO
4
/NiCo
2
O
4
nanoboxes electrodes is
most likely attributed to the synergistic electrochemical activity of both the phases, (Co
0.62
Fe
1.38
)FeO
4
and NiCo
2
O
4
. Hence, based on high reversible capacity as well as an outstanding rate performance, the
(Co
0.62
Fe
1.38
)FeO
4
/NiCo
2
O
4
nanoboxes electrode sheds light on commercial applications as an alternative
lithium-ion battery anode material.
© 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
With the ever increasing demand for high performance and long
cycle life lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), a large variety of materials
including transition/non-transition metal oxides are investigated
intensively [1e5]. Among the various anode materials, transition
metal oxides (TMOs) have attracted significant attention because of
their remarkably high theoretical capacities (>700 mAh g
1
) [6].
However, the intrinsic poor electrical conductivity and huge volume
variations during the cycling process (lead to dramatic capacity
fading, poor cycling stability and poor rate capability) hampered the
practical application of TMOs. Based on some recent research find-
ings, hybrid TMO hetero structures resulted by the incorporation of
conductive phases such as metals [7] or cushioning carbonaceous
materials [8,9], exhibited improved electrochemical performances.
However, as these additives deliver limited capacity, hence need to
compromise the total achievable capacity. In order to address this
limitation, new types of hybrid TMO hetero structures such as
Co
3
O
4
/Fe
2
O
3
[10], Fe
2
O
3
/MnO
2
[11] and so on, are scrupulously
tailored. The improved electrochemical performance in these hier-
archical nanohybrids, can be explained by the synergistic inherent
from each component. In recent years, MMOs, with different metal
* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author. Department of Functional Nanosystems and High-
Temperature Materials, National University of Science and Technology “MISiS”,
Leninskiy Pr. 4, Moscow,119049, Russia.
E-mail addresses: manab.kundu@ntnu.no, chemmanab@gmail.com (M. Kundu),
karunakarang5@misis.ru, karunakarang5@gmail.com (G. Karunakaran).
1
Both the author's contributed equally to this work.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Microporous and Mesoporous Materials
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/micromeso
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.micromeso.2017.03.045
1387-1811/© 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Microporous and Mesoporous Materials 247 (2017) 9e15