Facile synthesis of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles anchored on graphene sheets for enhanced performance of lithium ion battery

Recently, metal oxides as high capacity anode materials had been investigated for lithium ion batteries. However, the fast capacity fading upon cycling leaded poor durability, which hindered their application as higher energy density of lithium ion battery. In this paper, a nanostructured nanocomposite with graphene supported CoFe2O4 nanoparticles (NPs) was prepared via simple hydrothermal reaction. The uniform CoFe2O4 NPs were anchored on graphene sheets, which brought a good performance on cyclability. Combined with the optimization of graphene content, the anode delivered a better capacity retention of 944 mA h g−1 over 50 cycles at current density of 100 mA g−1 and the good reversible capacity as 990 mA h g−1 when the rate returned from 5 A g−1 to 0.1 A g−1 after 60 cycles. The present work provided a desired structure for conversion anode materials or other electrode materials of large volume change.