High Electrochemical Performance of Nanotube Structured ZnS as Anode Material for Lithium⁻Ion Batteries.

Wen Zhang,Taizhe Tan,Tai Yang,Yan Zhao,Junfan Zhang

doi:10.3390/ma11091537

Abstract

By using ZnO nanorods as an ideal sacrificial template, one-dimensional (1-D) ZnS nanotubes with a mean diameter of 10 nm were successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method. The phase composition and microstructure of the ZnS nanotubes were characterized by using XRD (X-ray diffraction), SEM (scanning electron micrograph), and TEM (transmission electronic microscopy) analysis. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and nitrogen sorption isotherms measurements were also used to study the information on the surface chemical compositions and specific surface area of the sample. The prepared ZnS nanotubes were used as anode materials in lithium-ion batteries. Results show that the ZnS nanotubes deliver an impressive prime discharge capacity as high as 950 mAh/g. The ZnS nanotubes also exhibit an enhanced cyclic performance. Even after 100 charge/discharge cycles, the discharge capacity could still remain at 450 mAh/g. Moreover, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements were also carried out to evaluate the ZnS electrodes.

Highlights

In recent decades, lithium-ion batteries play an increasingly dominating role in portable electronic devices due to the fact that they have the advantages of long service life, high energy density, high reversible capacity, and environmental friendliness [1]
Graphitic materials as a conventional anode material in lithium-ion batteries are extensively used for their good electrochemical properties and their structural stability during charge–discharge cycling [2]
The three bright ED patterns correspond to the (111), (220), and (311) lattice plane of ZnS. It can be observed from the high-resolution image shown in Figure 1d that the nanotubes are mainly composed of nanocrystals

Summary

Introduction

Lithium-ion batteries play an increasingly dominating role in portable electronic devices due to the fact that they have the advantages of long service life, high energy density, high reversible capacity, and environmental friendliness [1]. Graphitic materials as a conventional anode material in lithium-ion batteries are extensively used for their good electrochemical properties and their structural stability during charge–discharge cycling [2]. Traditional graphitic carbon materials severely hinder the development of lithium-ion batteries due to their low theoretical capacity (372 mAh/g) [3,4]. CuS/graphene composite have a good charge–discharge cycling performance; its initial discharge capacity was only 627 mAh/g [9]. NiS-carbon nanofiber films have worse electrochemical properties, and its discharge capacity decayed below 100 mAh/g after 40 cycles [10]. ZnS, by contrast, is viewed as a very promising alternative to carbon anode material due to its high theoretical capacity (962.3 mAh/g) [12].

Methods

Results

Conclusion