Porous Iron Cobaltate Nanoneedles Array on Nickel Foam as Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries with Enhanced Electrochemical Performance

A monocrystalline and porous FeCo2O4 nanoneedles array growing directly on a nickel foam substrate was obtained by a hydrothermal technique accompanying with combustion of the one-dimensional precursor. The average length of the FeCo2O4 nanoneedles is approximately 2 μm, while the diameter of the root segment of the nanoneedle can be estimated to be around 100 nm, which gradually reduces to only several nanometers at the top. When the as-prepared porous FeCo2O4 nanoneedles array with a high surface area of 58.49 m(2) g(-1) was applied as binder-free electrode in lithium-ion batteries, it exhibited satisfactory electrochemical performance, such as outstanding reversibility (Coulombic efficiency of approximately 92-95%), high specific capacity (1962 mAh g(-1) at the current density of 100 mA g(-1)), and excellent rate performance (discharge capacity of 875 mAh g(-1) at the current density of 2000 mA g(-1)), due to the various favorable conditions. Undoubtedly, the simple but effective strategy can be expanded to other high-performance binary metal-oxide materials.