Cotton as a sustainable source of Cu x O/C anode for high-performance Li-ion battery

This paper reports a simple-assembling synthesis of CuxO/C composite as the anode for lithium-ion batteries. The CuxO/C composite can be easily attained through using cotton as the template. Used as the anode material, the CuxO/C electrode has shown a relatively stable electrochemistry performance compared with the pristine CuO electrode. The cycling test results showed that the CuxO/C electrode achieved the steady specific capacity values of 381 mAhg−1 at 335 mAg−1 after 350 cycles while the capacity of the CuO electrode decreased after several cycles before it increased to 375 mAhg−1. This CuxO/C anode electrode stability is considered attributed to its core/shell structure, which can help keep the electrode structure stable during cycling.