Low-temperature preparation of ultrathin nanoflakes assembled tremella-like NiO hierarchical nanostructures for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

• We report a clean, mild and scalable strategy at relatively low temperature to synthesise tremella-like hierarchical Ni3(NO3)2(OH)4 precursors.
• Then, the tremella-like NiO hierarchical structures assemble from a number of two-dimensional (2D) porous ultrathin NiO nanoflakes obtained through thermolysis of the precursors.
• And they obtained NiO exhibits high specific capacity and enhanced cycling performance for anode materials in Lithium-ion batteries.

Tremella-like NiO hierarchical nanostructures with ultrathin porous nanoflakes had obtained by annealing the Ni3(NO3)2(OH)4 precursor, which was synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method at low temperature (90 °C). The as-prepared hierarchically porous tremella-like NiO nanostructures exhibited a large specific surface area and multiple pore size distribution, which could effectively increase the electrochemical reaction area and allow better penetration of the electrolyte. The initial discharge and charge capacities were 1374 and 1091 mA h g−1, respectively. The capacity maintained at 830 mA h g−1 after 30 cycles was 0.1 C (1 C=718 mA g−1).

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