Rational design of few-layered ReS2 nanosheets/N-doped mesoporous carbon nanocomposites for high-performance pseudocapacitive lithium storage

Abstract

A chemical vapor deposition-based two-step nanocasting process is employed to fabricate two different types of few-Layered ReS2 nanosheets/N-doped ordered mesoporous carbon CMK-3 nanocomposites: the ReS2 nanosheets are either confined within the channels of the N-doped CMK-3 or supported on the outside of the N-doped CMK-3. Siginificantly, the ReS2 nanosheets within the channels of N-doped CMK-3 delivers a much higher reversible capacity of 1175 mA h g−1 than does the ReS2 nanosheets on the external surface of N-doped CMK-3 (719 mA h g−1), and the superiority of the ReS2 nanosheets within the channels of N-doped CMK-3 is well demonstrated over the ReS2 nanosheets on the external surface of N-doped CMK-3, i.e., in terms of specific surface area, structural stability, lithium-ion and electron transport kinetics, capacitive charge storage, and the resulting high-performance lithium storage. This work clearly demonstrates the advantage of the few layered ReS2 within the channels of N-doped CMK-3 than on the external surface of N-doped CMK-3 as an anode material in lithium-ion batteries, and meanwhile provides new insight into the rational design of the transition metal dichalcogenides/porous carbon nanocomposites for electrochemical energy storage.