Soft-template-assisted synthesis of Petals-like MoS2 nanosheets covered with N-doped carbon for long cycle-life sodium-ion battery anode

Molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) is a promising anode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) owing to its graphene-like layered structure and high-capacity (670 mAh/g). However, its inherent poor electrical conductivity and slow Na-ion transportation are the two vital factors limiting its application in SIBs. Herein, the petals-like N-doped [email protected]2 (N–[email protected]2) nanosheets anode are elaborately constructed by the MoS2 host, g-C3N4 soft-template and carbonated pyrrole conductive matrix. Particularly, the g-C3N4 as a soft-template can effectively inhibit the agglomeration of MoS2 nanosheets during high temperature treatment and realize nitrogen doped of carbon layer. Most importantly, N-doped carbon layers can improve the electronic ionic diffusion rate and conductivity as well as generate numerous active sites. The volume expansion of MoS2 is also mitigated due to the constraint of carbon layer by improving the surface electrical property and surface activity. Therefore, the N–[email protected]2 electrode displays excellent long cycle-life and high-capacity as SIBs anode, which delivers high-capacity of 399 and 246 mAh/g after 300 and 1000 cycles at 0.2 and 1.5 A/g, respectively. The idea of preparing N–[email protected]2 composite material based on g-C3N4 soft-template afford experimental origin for the further progress of Na-storage device and can be certainly stretched to other transition metal compounds that can form composite structure with g-C3N4.