Graphene supported ZnO/CuO flowers composites as anode materials for lithium ion batteries

Flower-like ZnO/CuO microstructures have been fabricated on Cu substrate via a simple hydrothermal method. The as-prepared ZnO/CuO flowers/graphene (GNS) composites had distributed the ZnO/CuO flowers on the graphene sheets. As anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), the ZnO/CuO flowers/GNS composites showed substantially higher reversible capacity and better cycling stability compared to ZnO/CuO flowers, which has been attributed to the improvement of structure stability and electrical contact by GNS. The method may be readily extended to synthesize other classes of hybrids based on graphene sheets for technological applications.