Tailored Solution Combustion Synthesis of High Performance\nZnCo₂O₄ Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Abstract

A promising Li-ion\nbattery anode material, nanostructured ZnCo₂O₄ spinel, is tailored by solution combustion synthesis\nto explore how reaction conditions can be tuned to enhance electrochemical\nperformance. A strategy of using glycine and citric acid as fuels,\nammonium nitrate as gas generating agent, and optimized fuel to oxidizer\nratio results in a mild volume combustion mode with significant weight\nloss by gas evolution occurring during calcination to mitigate particle\nsintering. This yields a mesoporous product structure with a tap density\nof 1.48 g cm^–3, which accommodates volumetric changes\nduring lithiation, resulting in a high stable capacity of 1000 mAh\ng^–1 (C/2 rate) and 950 mAh g^–1 (1 C rate) at 22 °C after initial formation cycles. This study\ndemonstrates that with the use of mixed fuels, gas generating additives,\nand appropriate fuel to oxidizer ratio, ZnCo₂O₄ material synthesized by the efficient, one-step solution combustion\nsynthesis method can be tuned to provide excellent electrochemical\nperformance.