Nitrogen doped hollow MoS2/C nanospheres as anode for long-life sodium-ion batteries

Abstract

As a complement or alternative to lithium ion batteries, development of high-performance sodium ion batteries with long cycle life is urgent. Here, nitrogen doped urchin-like MoS2/C hollow structures are successfully synthesized by using Mo-MOFs as the precursors with a facile sulfuration process. The nanocomposites that contain carbon and nitrogen elements possess good electronic conductivity as well as expanded interlayer, which are beneficial for electron transportation and ion diffusion. The hierarchical hollow structure is able to accommodate volume change during discharge/charge. When applied as anode for sodium-ion batteries, the N-doped MoS2/C anode exhibits good rate capability and outstanding cycling performance. It delivers a high initial discharge capacity of 972mAhg−1 at 100mAg−1. The discharge capacity can achieve 242mAhg−1 even at 5000mAg−1. Importantly, long-term cycling test shows that the capacity maintains a considerable capacity of 128mAhg−1 after 5000 cycles at 2Ag−1, with a capacity fading rate of 0.036% per cycle.