A novel shuttle-like Fe3O4–Co3O4 self-assembling architecture with highly reversible lithium storage

We report the synthesis of a novel shuttle-like Fe3O4–Co3O4 self-assembling architecture through a facile hydrothermal method. The composite manifests quite excellent electrochemical performance as anodes of Li-ion batteries. It delivers a high reversible capacity of ∼1013 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g−1 after 100 cycles (∼1246 mA h g−1 at 0.5 A g−1, 864 mA h g−1 at 1 A g−1 and 625 mA h g−1 at 2 A g−1 after 50 cycles). The rate performance is also outstanding with a reversible capacity of 660 mA h g−1 even at 5 A g−1 and a capacity retention of 94% after 78 cycles. The synergetic effect of Co3O4 and Fe3O4, as well as the unique self-assembling architecture, may be responsible for the large enhanced electrochemical performance.