Nanosized ReS2 Monolayers Embedded in Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Nanotubes for High‐Rate Capacitive Lithium Storage

Abstract

AbstractThe expected approach to improve the electrochemical performance of layered transition metal dichalcogenides is to thin them down to monolayer for minimizing the barrier of lithium‐ion intercalation and diffusion. In this work, a distinct nanocomposite constructed from nanosized ReS2 monolayers uniformly embedded in nitrogen‐doped carbon nanotubes is synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method followed by calcination. When evaluated as anode materials for lithium ion batteries, the robust nanocomposites exhibit a reversible capacity of 825 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 after 100 cycles with an initial Coulombic efficiency as high as 83%, and more importantly, retain an outstanding capacity of 612 mAh g−1 at 1 A g−1 after 500 cycles with an excellent capacity retention of 80%. Kinetics analysis of the redox reactions reveals that 86% of the charge storage is controlled by a capacitive behavior, leading to both high‐rate and long‐life lithium storage performances. The design of the nanocomposites offers a promising strategy to achieve extra power over batteries by capacitive energy storage.