Urchin-like Co₃O₄ Nanostructure and Their Electrochemical Behavior in Rechargeable Lithium Ion Battery

3D urchin-like Co₃O₄ have been successfully prepared by calcination of the urchin-like pre-cursors, which were synthesized through a facile hydrothermal route. The morphology and structure of the 3D urchin-like Co₃O₄ have been characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, high resolution transmission elec-tron microscopy, and X-ray powder diffraction. The as-synthesized Co₃O₄ products are of urchin-like structures with approximated 5-7 μm in diameter, and are composed of numer-ous nanoparticles chains with the particles diameter of about 15 nm. This kind of urchin-like Co₃O₄ exhibits superior energy storage properties with the high capacity of 1.369 Ah/g and its good cyclic stability shows great potential in the rechargeable Li-ion battery.