Preparation and electrochemical properties of sepiolite supported Co3O4 nanoparticles

Abstract In this paper, Co3O4/sepiolite composites have been synthesized by using electrochemically active sepiolite as templates. The Co3O4/sepiolite composite delivered an initial discharge capacity around 1947 mAhg−1 at 1.0 Ag−1 with capacity retention up to 867 mAhg−1 after 1000 cycles. Besides, the composite released a high specific discharge capacity around 453 and 206 mAhg−1 at 5.0 and 15.0 Ag−1, respectively. A long-term activation process can be observed in the lithiation/delithiation reaction, which is beneficial to improve the cycling performance of Co3O4/sepiolite composites.