Continuous Carbon Hollow Shell with Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Embedded as an Anode Material with Excellent Lithium Storage Capability

Continuous carbon hollow shells with embedded ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized from colloidal polystyrene/ZnO as templates and glucose oligomer as the carbon source followed by calcination. The resulting uniform ZnO/C hollow spheres display a relatively high reversible capacity of 994 mAh g(-1) after 100 cycles at 0.1 A g(-1) and 812 mAh g(-1) after 200 cycles at 1 A g(-1), which is superior to most reported ZnO-based anode materials. The excellent electrochemical performance of the ZnO/C hollow spheres may arise from the following aspects: the shortened pathway of Li ions and electrolyte attributed to the unique hollow shell structures, improved electronic conductivity, firm encapsulation of ZnO nanoparticles, and high specific surface area of the products, which together facilitate the ZnO nanoparticles to undergo the alloying reaction completely.