High-rate lithium-ion battery performance of a ternary sea urchin-shaped CoNiO_(2)@NiP_(6)Mo_(18)/CNTs composites

Bimetallic oxides are attractive anode materials for lithium-ion batteries(LIBs)due to their large theoretical capacity.However,the low conductivity,short cycle life,and poor rate capability are the bottlenecks for their further applications.To overcome above issues,the basket-like polymolybdate(NiP_(6)Mo_(18))and carbon nanotubes(CNTs)were uniformly embedded on the urchin-shaped CoNiO_(2)nanospheres to yield a ternary composites CoNiO_(2)@NiP_(6)Mo_(18)/CNTs via electrostatic adsorption.The multi-level morphology of urchin spinules accelerates the diffusion rate of Li^(+);CNT improves the conductivity and enhances cycle stability of the material;and heteropoly acid contributes more redox activity centres.Thus,CoNiO_(2)@NiP_(6)Mo_(18)/CNTs as an anode of LIBs exhibits a high initial capacity(1396.7 mA h g^(−1)at 0.1 A g^(−1)),long-term cycling stability(750.2 mA h g^(−1)after 300 cycles),and rate performance(450.3 mA h g^(−1)at 2 A g^(−1)),which are superior to reported metallic oxides anode of LIBs.The density functional theory(DFT)and kinetic mechanism suggest that CoNiO_(2)@NiP_(6)Mo_(18)/CNTs delivers an outstanding pseudocapacitance and rapid Li^(+)diffusion behaviors,which is due to the rich surface area of the urchin-like CoNiO_(2)with the uniform embeddedness of NiP_(6)Mo_(18)and CNTs.This study provides a new idea for optimizing the performance of bimetallic oxides and developing high-rate lithium-ion battery composites.