Unraveling high efficiency multi-step sodium storage and bidirectional redox kinetics synergy mechanism of cobalt-doping vanadium disulfide anode

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Sodium-based storage devices based on conversion-type metal sulfide anodes have attracted great attention due to their multivalent ion redox reaction ability. However, they also suffer from sodium polysulfides (NaPSs) shuttling problems during the sluggish Na+ redox process, leading to “voltage failure” and rapid capacity decay. Herein, a metal cobalt-doping vanadium disulfide (Co-VS2) is proposed to simultaneously accelerate the electrochemical reaction of VS2 and enhance the bidirectional redox of soluble NaPSs. It is found that the strong adsorption of NaPSs by V-Co alloy nanoparticles formed in situ during the conversion reaction of Co-VS2 can effectively inhibit the dissolution and shuttle of NaPSs, and thermodynamically reduce the formation energy barrier of the reaction path to effectively drive the complete conversion reaction, while the metal transition of Co elements enhances reconversion kinetics to achieve high reversibility. Moreover, Co-VS2 also produce abundant sulfur vacancies and unsaturated sulfur edge defects, significantly improve ionic/electron diffusion kinetics. Therefore, the Co-VS2 anode exhibits ultrahigh rate capability (562 mA h g−1 at 5 A g−1), high initial coulombic efficiency (≈90%) and 12,000 ultralong cycle life with capacity retention of 90% in sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), as well as impressive energy/power density (118 Wh kg−1/31,250 W kg−1) and over 10,000 stable cycles in sodium-ion hybrid capacitors (SIHCs). Moreover, the pouch cell-type SIHC displays a high-energy density of 102 Wh kg−1 and exceed 600 stable cycles. This work deepens the understanding of the electrochemical reaction mechanism of conversion-type metal sulfide anodes and provides a valuable solution to the shuttling of NaPSs in SIBs and SIHCs.