Novel KOH treated Li-CuO as anode for the Application of Lithium-Ion Batteries

Lithiated CuO (Li-CuO) micro-structures were synthesized by the hydrothermal method using KOH as a reactive solution. The structural properties of pure Li-CuO and other KOH-reacted CuO samples were analysed using XRD analysis. Various vibrational bands were observed by FTIR spectra analysis. The SEM images indicated the formation of Li-CuO hexagonal rods of 1-2 µm dimension. The cyclic efficiencies of pure Li-CuO and 12 M KOH surfactant Li-CuO microstructures were observed to be 78.5% and 91.2%, respectively. The battery discharge characteristics revealed that after 50 cycles, the specific capacity of the battery based on a pure Li-CuO microstructure electrode showed 97 mAh g-1 whereas KOH surfactant Li-CuO microstructures electrode showed 150 mAh g-1 at a constant current density of 17.79 mA g-1 with a 1.0–4.0 V vs. Li/Li+ potential range. The enhancement of specific capacity and its stability due to a well-defined hexagonal crystal structure leads to increased Li+ ion kinetics during the insertion and extraction processes of batteries.