Porous ZnV2O4 Nanowire for Stable and High-Rate Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes

Porous ZnV2O4 nanowires (NWs) were successfully prepared by hydrothermal reaction followed by calcination. Despite the porous structure, these porous ZnV2O4 NWs are single crystal with {220} facets and a wire direction along the c-axis. On the basis of an electrochemical test, these porous ZnV2O4 NWs have better cycling stability and higher specific capacity (i.e., 460 mA h g–1 after 100 cycles and 149 mA h g–1 after 1000 cycles using 1 and 5 A g–1 current densities, respectively) compared to other morphologies (i.e., spherical and coral-like morphologies). As a ternary transition metal oxide, the produced porous ZnV2O4 NWs undergo phase transformation without compromising the resulting capacity. On the other hand, the CV curves at different scan rates indicate a pseudocapacitive electrochemical behavior of the porous ZnV2O4.