Facile synthesis of CuO nanorod for lithium storage application

A CuO nanostructure was prepared on copper plate by a simple electrochemical etching and a subsequent heat treatment instead of the commonly used solution-immersion method. The architecture was used as anode of lithium ion batteries without any conductive binder. Excellent rate capability and improved cyclability were obtained with a specific capacity of 740 mAh/g upto 50 cycles at a rate of 100 mA/g. The improved performance can be attributed to the quasi-1-dimensional nanostructure prepared directly on the current-collecting copper plate, which offers good strain accommodation, short electron/lithium ion transport path and excellent electrical contact between active material and current-collector.

► A CuO nanostructure is prepared by a high-efficiency electrochemical approach at low temperature instead of the commonly used time-consuming solution-immersion method.
► The obtained CuO anode exhibits a higher capacity and rate capability compared with the previous reports.
► The obtained CuO anode shows excellent rate capability and improved cyclability even at high rates.
► The obtained structure of CuO could be used as a scaffold for silicon or other anode materials in our future work.