Nanoporous Co3O4 plates as highly electroactive materials for electrochemical energy storage

Nanoporous Co3O4 plates are synthesized by a facile approach combining hydrothermal treatment and subsequent calcination. Nanoporous Co3O4 plates with a large surface area (161.9 m2 g−1), small crystalline size (~ 3.0 nm) and thin thickness (~10 nm) show potentials for electrochemical energy storage. Nanoporous Co3O4 plates as electroactive materials for supercapacitor displayed a good rate capability and specific capacitance of 356.6 F g−1 at 0.4 A/g without any obvious degradation over 2500 cycles. They also delivered a high specific capacity of 944.4 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g −1 and a good rate capability as the anodes for lithium-ion batteries.