Superior Electrochemical Performance of Two-Dimensional RGO/Cu/Cu₂O Composite as Anode Material for Lithium-Ion Batteries

In recent years, graphene has attracted the interest of many researchers working on LIB anode materials owing to its unique 2D structure, thermal stability, and fast electron transfer. In this work, RGO/Cu/Cu₂O nanocomposites were synthesized through a hydrothermal procedure. The as-prepared nanocomposites exhibited a high lithium storage capacity with improved cycling stability and great rate performance, i.e., the discharge capacity was 371.8 mAh/g after 100 cycles at a current density of 500 mA/g. These excellent properties were associated with the sheet structure symmetry of graphene enriched with the multifunctional Cu-Cu₂O component, which prevented aggregation and accommodated the volume changes of the anode material during the charge–discharge tests. The RGO/Cu/Cu₂O composite conferred to the LIB anode the ability to resist electrode cracking. The approach proposed in this paper can be also generalized for the synthesis of other carbon-based anode materials for LIBs.