Controlled Synthesis of Ultrafine β-Mo₂C Nanoparticles Encapsulated in N-Doped Porous Carbon for Boosting Lithium Storage Kinetics.

ABSTRACT: Rational construction of anode material architecture to afford excellent cycling stability, fast rate capacity, and large specific capacity is essential to promote further development of lithium-ion batteries in commercial applications. In this work, we propose a facile strategy to anchor ultrafine β-Mo₂C nanoparticles in N-doped porous carbon skeleton (β-Mo₂C@NC) using a scalable salt-template method. The well-defined and abundant hierarchical porous structure of β-Mo₂C@NC can not only significantly enhance the electron/ion transfer but also markedly increase the specific surface area to effectively expose the electrochemically accessible active sites. Besides, the N-doped carbon matrix can turn the d-orbital electrons of the Mo to boost the electron transportation as well as distribute active sites to buffer the volume change of Mo₂C and provide conductive pathways during discharge/charge cycles. As a result, the as-prepared β-Mo₂C@NC displays excellent lithium storage performance in terms of 1701.6 mA h g^-1 at 0.1 A g^-1 after 100 cycles and a large capacity of 816.47 mA h g^-1 at 2.0 A g^-1 after 500 cycles. The above results distinctly demonstrate that the β-Mo₂C@NC composite has potential application as anode materials in high-performance energy storage devices.

SUBMITTER: Yang M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8582065 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature