Facile synthesis of CoWO4/RGO composites as superior anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

In this paper, a facile method has been developed to synthesize supported CoWO4 on the reduced graphene oxide (RGO) as high-performance anode material for Li-ion batteries. The composites with cuboid-like CoWO4 nanoparticles were prepared by directly adding graphene oxide into the precursor solution followed by a hydrothermal treatment. Different analytical methods like high-resolution TEM, XRD, TGA, and XPS characterizations were employed to illustrate structural information of the as-prepared CoWO4 and CoWO4/RGO composites. In addition, the Li-ion battery performance using the composites as anode materials was also discussed based on the detailed galvanostatic charge-discharge cycling tests. The result shows that the specific capacity of the as-prepared CoWO4/RGO composites can reach 533.3 mAh g−1 after 50 cycles at a current density of 100 mA g−1. During the whole cyclic process, the coulombic efficiency was maintained higher than 90%. Therefore, CoWO4, as an environment-friendly and cost-effective anode material, has promising potential for Li-ion batteries.