Nitrogen-doped carbon shell on metal oxides core arrays as enhanced anode for lithium ion batteries

Tailored synthesis of advanced core/shell composite electrodes is the key for construction of high-performance power sources. In this work, we report a facile combined strategy for fabrication of 3D porous NiO/nitrogen-doped carbon (NiO/N-C) core/shell nanosheets arrays by chemical bath deposition plus electro-deposition methods. Thin N-C shell is uniformly coated on the preformed NiO nanosheets forming composite arrays. As a binder-free anode material for lithium ion batteries, the resultant NiO/N-C core/shell naoosheets arrays electrode exhibits enhanced electrochemical performances with better cycle capability and improved rate performance. The N-doped composite core/shell architecture plays positive roles in the enhancement of electrochemical performance due to lower charge-transfer resistance, and better strain accommodation during the discharge/charge cycling. Our research may offer an attractive way for the construction of high-performance metal oxides electrodes for energy storage.