Flower-like WO₃/CoWO₄/Co nanostructures as high performance anode for lithium ion batteries

The uniformly flower-like WO₃/CoWO₄/Co nanostructures were synthesized via a facile one-step hydrothermal reaction with solid heteropolyacid of W and Co as precursors and followed by heating process and calcination under the air condition. The as-prepared WO₃/CoWO₄/Co composite showed a high discharge capacity of 1104 mAhg⁻¹ after 40 cycles at 100 mAg⁻¹, and delivered excellent rate performance of 1074, 685, 509, 335 mAhg⁻¹ at 200,400,800,1600 mAg⁻¹, respectively. The excellent electrochemical performance of WO₃/CoWO₄/Co nanostructures is attributed to the uniform dispersion of discrete nanoparticles, and it also can be highly optimized by the freestanding combination of Co-doped tungsten trioxide and cobalt tungstate, which helps to provide high specific capacity, high rate cycling and stable life performance. - Highlights: • Flower-like compound were synthesized by hydrothermal method and rapid calcination. • Co-doping increased lattice parameters of WO₃ for Li⁺ insertion and extraction. • Formation of new phase CoWO₄ also has excellent stability properties. • WO₃/CoWO₄/Co as anode material has a high reversible discharge capacity. • WO₃/CoWO₄/Co anode shows excellent rate performance at different current densities.