ZnO-CuOx/C mesoporous carbon as a stable lithium-ion anode

Controlling the morphology and pore size is the key to improving the efficiency of electrode materials. In this work, ZnO-CuOx/C, as a lithium-ion anode material, is prepared using ZIF-8@CuO as an initial composite material. The two metal oxides become uniformly distributed on the carbon material, which not only inherits the excellent pore structure and high specific surface area of ZIF-8 but also exhibits excellent conductivity and abundant active sites. Furthermore, ZnO-CuOx/C demonstrates outstanding lithium storage performance. After 500 cycles at a current density of 100 mA g −1 , the capacity remains at a relatively high level of 1061.2 mAh g −1 . After 1000 cycles at a current density of 1000 mA g −1 , the capacity stays as high as 500 mAh g −1 . Therefore, the prepared composite material possesses favourable rate capacity.