Lithium storage in a highly conductive Cu3Ge boosted Ge/graphene aerogelElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5ta06862b

A Cu 3 Ge/Ge@G aerogel was employed as an anode for a lithium-ion battery by a simple pyrolysis of a CuGeO 3 nanowire and graphene oxide nanosheet mixture. It is demonstrated that both the Cu 3 Ge nanoparticles and graphene nanosheets act as conductive buffers to accelerate the electron migration rate and enhance the cycling stability of the electrode. A Cu 3 Ge/Ge@G aerogel was synthesized via a simple pyrolysis route and directly employed as a high performance anode for lithium-ion batteries.