Preparation and Electrochemical Properties of Sepiolite Supported Co3O4 Nanoparticles

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.