Preparation and electrochemical properties of nano Fe₂O₃-CuO composite oxides

The nanocomposite oxides (Fe₂O₃-CuO)as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries were synthesized via the hydrothermal method and the precipitation method. The crystalline structure and the electrochemical performance of the as-synthesized samples were investigated. The results show that the nano Fe₂O₃-CuO composite oxides obtained by the hydrothermal method are blocky, with narrow size distribution around 30 nm, while spherical, with narrow size distribution around 90 nm by the precipitation method. It is also found that the discharge capacity of the samples via the precipitation method is better than those of the samples obtained via the hydrothermal method.