Cu-supported ZnO-C composite coatings with three dimensional (3D) network structures were successfully fabricated through simple knife coating technique. The structure and morphology of the as-prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectrum (Raman), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results show that the coatings are constructed by interconnected carbon based branches with a width of 0.1-1 μm containing ZnO nano-particles and micro-pores with a size of ~2 nm. The Cu-supported ZnO-C composite coatings can be directly employed as anodes of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The electrochemical test demonstrates that at a current density of 0.1 A/g, the ZnO-C composite coating electrodes exhibit specific capacity of 855 mAh/g after 100 cycles without capacity fading during cycling; at a high current density of 5 A/g, the electrodes deliver specific capacity of 418 mAh/g, which is 51.3% of the specific capacity at a current density of 0.1 A/g.
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