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Nano Research 2018, 11(2): 831-844 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1693-1
Research Article | Issue | Published: 19 July 2017

Self-templating thermolysis synthesis of Cu2–xS@M (M = C, TiO2, MoS2) hollow spheres and their application in rechargeable lithium batteries

Show Author's Information Yunhui Wang1,2,3,  He Li1,2,3,  Yiyong Zhang1,2,3,  Yueying Peng1,2,3,  Peng Zhang3,4,  Jinbao Zhao1,2,3,4( )
State Key Lab of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical EngineeringXiamen UniversityXiamen361005China
Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical EngineeringXiamen UniversityXiamen361005China
State-Province Joint Engineering Laboratory of Power Source Technology for New Energy VehicleXiamen UniversityXiamen361102China
College of EnergyXiamen UniversityXiamen361102China
Keywords:
hollow spheres, sulfide, self-templating thermolysis, lithium batteries
Cite this article:
Wang Y, Li H, Zhang Y, et al. Self-templating thermolysis synthesis of Cu2–xS@M (M = C, TiO2, MoS2) hollow spheres and their application in rechargeable lithium batteries. Nano Research, 2018, 11(2): 831-844. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-017-1693-1
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Owing to their unique structural stability and impressive long-term cycling performance, coated hollow structures are highly attractive for energy storage systems, especially batteries. Many efforts have been devoted and various strategies have been proposed to prepare such materials. In the present work, we propose a self-templating thermolysis strategy, different from traditional wet processing methods, to fabricate cuprous sulfide hollow spheres coated with different shells, by exploiting the thermal decomposition properties of the core (CuS) and the protection provided by the shell. To demonstrate the generality of this synthetic approach, three different coating materials (carbon, TiO2, MoS2) have been chosen to prepare Cu2–xS@C, Cu2–xS@TiO2 and Cu2–xS@MoS2 hollow spheres. All synthesized composite materials were then assembled as electrodes and tested in lithium batteries, showing excellent cycling stability. In particular, the electrochemical properties of Cu2–xS@C were thoroughly investigated. The results of this work provide an alternative route to prepare coated metal sulfide hollow spheres for energy storage applications.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Self-templating thermolysis synthesis of Cu2–xS@M (M = C, TiO2, MoS2) hollow spheres and their application in rechargeable lithium batteries

Show Author's information Yunhui Wang1,2,3, He Li1,2,3, Yiyong Zhang1,2,3, Yueying Peng1,2,3, Peng Zhang3,4, Jinbao Zhao1,2,3,4( )
State Key Lab of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical EngineeringXiamen UniversityXiamen361005China
Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical EngineeringXiamen UniversityXiamen361005China
State-Province Joint Engineering Laboratory of Power Source Technology for New Energy VehicleXiamen UniversityXiamen361102China
College of EnergyXiamen UniversityXiamen361102China

Abstract

Owing to their unique structural stability and impressive long-term cycling performance, coated hollow structures are highly attractive for energy storage systems, especially batteries. Many efforts have been devoted and various strategies have been proposed to prepare such materials. In the present work, we propose a self-templating thermolysis strategy, different from traditional wet processing methods, to fabricate cuprous sulfide hollow spheres coated with different shells, by exploiting the thermal decomposition properties of the core (CuS) and the protection provided by the shell. To demonstrate the generality of this synthetic approach, three different coating materials (carbon, TiO2, MoS2) have been chosen to prepare Cu2–xS@C, Cu2–xS@TiO2 and Cu2–xS@MoS2 hollow spheres. All synthesized composite materials were then assembled as electrodes and tested in lithium batteries, showing excellent cycling stability. In particular, the electrochemical properties of Cu2–xS@C were thoroughly investigated. The results of this work provide an alternative route to prepare coated metal sulfide hollow spheres for energy storage applications.

Keywords: hollow spheres, sulfide, self-templating thermolysis, lithium batteries

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 14 March 2017
Revised: 27 May 2017
Accepted: 30 May 2017
Published: 19 July 2017
Issue date: February 2018

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21273185 and 21321062). The authors also thank Prof. Daiwei Liao for the valuable suggestions.

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