Hexagonal prism structured MnSe stabilized by nitrogen-doped carbon for high performance lithium ion batteries

Abstract

A novel manganese selenide with hexagonal prism structure stabilized by nitrogen-doped carbon is successfully synthesized by a simple solvothermal and carbonization processes. Without generating toxic H2Se gases and using template, this method is more environmental friendly and simple than traditional preparing strategy of metal selenides. More importantly, the as-prepared MnSe hexagonal prism coated with nitrogen-doped carbon exhibited excellent reversible capacity and good cycling stability (864.7 mAh g−1 at 500 mA g−1 after 750 cycles) when as anode material of lithium-ion batteries by virtue of nitrogen-doped carbon layer and novel hexagonal prism structure. Furthermore, this strategy can be further extended as a general approach to synthesize other metal selenides. The nitrogen-doped carbon stabilized CoSe, NiSe and ZnSe also exhibit a superior electrochemical performance when used in lithium-ion batteries. This strategy provides a new guideline for rational designing high performance metal selenides in areas of sodium ion batteries, hydrogen evolution reaction, catalysts et al.