One-step synthesis of ZnO/N-doped carbon/Cu composites for high-performance lithium ion batteries anodes

•The ZnO/N-doped carbon/Cu composites are facilely synthesized by a one-step method.•The method only uses the copper phthalocyanine as C, N and Cu sources.•High electronic conductivity and structural stability of the composites are obtained.•The composite exhibits a large retention capacity of 602 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 after 100 cycles.

Developing the advanced electrode materials with large capacity, low cost, high-rate capability and long cycle stability for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), is still a challenge and hot-topic today. Herein, ZnO/N-doped carbon/Cu composites (ZnO/NC/Cu) with different ZnO loading amounts are first synthesized by a simple pseudo-solid-state method only using the copper phthalocyanine as carbon, nitrogen and copper sources. In a typical massive-like structure, ZnO and Cu nanoparticles distribute randomly and are well surrounded by amorphous carbon. Benefiting from the advantages of intrinsic architecture, as LIBs anodes, ZnO/NC/Cu (1:1) exhibits a large specific capacity of 602 mAh g−1 at a current density of 100 mA g−1, keeps a high up to 96% capacity retention even after 100 cycles vs the 2nd cycle, and presents high rate capability. It could be inferred that appropriated amount of ZnO, the modification of copper nanoparticles and N-doped carbon framework are mainly responsible for those encouraging electrochemical performances of ZnO/NC/Cu composites.

Graphical abstractIn this study, we report the use of ZnO/N-doped carbon/Cu (ZnO/NC/Cu) composites as lithium ion batteries anode materials, where the ZnO/NC/Cu was prepared by a simple pseudo-solid-state method only using copper phthalocyanine and ZnO nanocrystals.Download high-res image (162KB)Download full-size image